The United States accused Iran of testing a new medium-range ballistic missile, capable of carrying more warheads. According to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the 2015 international agreement on the Iranian nuclear program was violated, from which, however, Washington withdrew.
"The missile tests are carried out for the defense and deterrence of the country, and we will continue to do so“, So Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarchi, spokesman for the Iranian armed forces, to the Tasnim agency. Iran, therefore, has hinted that it will continue missile tests to ensure its defense. The defense of one's own territory is not an activity that violates UN resolutions according to Tehran.
"We will continue to develop and test the missiles, outside the framework of negotiations, because for our national security we will not ask any country for permission“Thundered Shekarchi.
Also in the past, writes Reuters, John Bolton, US National Security Advisor, wrote on Twitter: “Iran has just fired a ballistic missile capable of reaching Israel and Europe. This provocative behavior cannot be tolerated ”.
The spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Bahram Qasemi, said in this regard that the Iranian missiles are purely defensive and added: "There is no Security Council resolution banning Iran's missile program and missile testing".
USN resolution 2231 sanctioned the 2015 Iran nuclear deal with Great Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States in which Tehran blocked the disputed uranium enrichment program in exchange for ending international sanctions.
The resolution states that Iran is "called" to abstain for up to eight years on activities on ballistic missiles designed to carry nuclear weapons.
Iran has repeatedly claimed that its missile program is purely defensive and denies that its missiles are capable of being equipped with nuclear warheads, or that it intends to develop nuclear weapons through uranium enrichment.
Qasemi, addressing Pompeo, said: "It is ... ironic that you cite a resolution that you not only violated by your unilateral and illegal withdrawal from the agreement, but which also encourages other countries to violate, or even threaten to punish and sanction them if they carry it out “.
Last May, President Donald Trump withdrew the US from the nuclear deal, approved before his inauguration, and re-imposed sanctions on Tehran. Trump said the deal is lacking because it does not include any restraints on Iran's development of ballistic missiles or its military support for Syria, Yemen, Lebanon and Iraq.
Separately, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif accused the United States of arming militant groups fighting against the Tehran-backed Syrian government and the Iran-allied Houthi movement in Yemen.
"The United States is supplying arms to extremists, including Al Qaeda and ISIS (Islamic State)," Zarif said on Twitter, referring to a report by the British newspaper that many weapons supplied by Britain and the United States had ended up in the hands of militias fighting in the Yemen war against Iranian-backed Houthi forces.
British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said on Twitter that he was deeply concerned about "the Iranian test of a medium-range ballistic missile that is provocative, threatening and inconsistent with UNSCR 2231".
"Our support for the Iranian nuclear deal does not diminish in any way but increases our concern about Iran's destabilizing missile program," Hunt added.