The United States issued a warning to Iran on Thursday on its violations of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2231 after the Iran Ministry of Defense announced plans to launch three space launch vehicles (SLV) in the coming months.
“Such actions would once again demonstrate Iran’s defiance of UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 2231, which calls upon the Iranian regime not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons,” U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement.
“This action includes launching SLVs, which incorporate technology that is virtually identical to that used in ballistic missiles, including in intercontinental ballistic-missiles (ICBMs). An ICBM with a range of 10,000km could reach the United States,” he pointed out.
The Iranian regime has launched ballistic missiles numerous times since UNSCR 2231 was adopted and continues to do so, Pompeo said.
On December 1, the Iranian regime test-fired a medium range ballistic missile capable of carrying multiple warheads, both routine and nuclear-armed warheads, according to Israeli sources. That missile has a range that allows it to strike parts of Europe and anywhere in the Middle East, according to Pompeo.
The commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force later said Iran tests 40 to 50 ballistic missiles every year.
“The United States has continuously cautioned that ballistic missile and SLV launches by the Iranian regime have a destabilizing effect on the region and beyond. France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and many nations from around the world have also expressed deep concern,” Pompeo said.
“The Iranian regime is the world’s foremost state sponsor of terror and has proliferated missiles and related technology to its proxies around the Middle East, further flouting UNSCR 2231.
“The United States will not stand by and watch the Iranian regime’s destructive policies place international stability and security at risk,” he warned.
“We advise the regime to reconsider these provocative launches and cease all activities related to ballistic missiles in order to avoid deeper economic and diplomatic isolation.”
Pompeo also told an interviewer Thursday from Newsmax that new waivers on economic sanctions imposed on Iran for a six month period may be coming to an end.
“The sanctions and the waivers were for six months. We are continuously evaluating whether they make sense given our policy, right? We still want to make sure that we’ve got enough – a well-supplied crude oil market,” Pompeo said.
“But at the same time, we want to ensure that we’re complying with the requirements that the sanctions on Iran have the ultimate goal which we’re trying to achieve: creating an outcome where the Iranian people – the Iranian people can have better lives than they have today under this tyrannical regime.”