The United States, Britain, France and Germany are calling on the U.N. Iran sanctions committee to take "appropriate action" regarding a missile test that they say constituted a serious violation of a U.N. resolution.
Matthew Rycroft, Britain's U.N. ambassador, said that any action would depend on technical experts’ view of the launch. “It’s clear in our view that it is a violation of the relevant security council resolutions, which remain in force after the Iran [nuclear] deal," he said. "It’s very important that the sanctions committee looks at that carefully and reports back to us.”
Resolution 1929 prohibits Iran from conducting launches of ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear warheads. Reuters quotes the letter from the four nations, all Security Council members, to the sanctions committee as saying the missile was “inherently capable of delivering a nuclear weapon.”
Any sanctions against Iran would have to be approved by fellow Security Council members Russia and China. “I’ll let other council members speak for themselves,” said Rycroft. “But I think everyone recognizes the importance of the Iran deal. We want to see it implemented properly, fairly and fully by all parties.”
The Iran nuclear deal, signed by Iran and six major powers, went into its first phase of implementation Sunday.
Iran said this month that it had tested a new precision-guided ballistic missile. But it denied that the missile was capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.
"None of the Islamic Republic of Iran's missiles have been designed for nuclear capabilities," Iran Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said.
