The U.S. to Raise Iran's Recent Missile Test at the Security Council

According to Reuters, diplomatic sources at the United Nations say that the United States intends to bring up Iran's recent missile test for discussion at the UN Security Council on Wednesday, October 21. This decision comes after the U.S. declared last week that Iran's missile test violated the ballistic missile testing sanctions imposed by the UN against Tehran. On October 11, Iranian Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan announced the 'successful' test of a new generation ground-to-ground missile named 'Emad.' According to Dehghan, 'This missile is capable of striking designated targets with high precision and completely destroying them'; it is set to replace the Shahab-3 missile models. Following this announcement, on October 16, Samantha Power, the U.S. representative to the UN, issued a statement declaring that the medium-range missile tested by Iran has the capability to carry a nuclear warhead, which constitutes a clear violation of UN resolutions. French and Reuters news agencies, citing diplomats at the UN who wished to remain anonymous, report that the U.S. plans to raise the issue of this missile test in the Security Council meeting. These diplomats indicated that additional individuals and entities in Iran may be added to the UN sanctions blacklist. However, these diplomatic sources noted that Russia and China, which oppose the approval of new sanctions against Iran's missile program, may obstruct any actions in this regard. In her statement, Samantha Power emphasized that the U.S. intends to prepare a report on Iran's missile test and submit it to the committee overseeing sanctions on Iran. According to UN Security Council Resolution 2331, passed on July 19, Iran is prohibited from any activity related to ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear weapons for eight years. This prohibition also includes the launch of any type of ballistic missile. The Iranian Foreign Ministry, in a statement issued after the resolution was passed, said that since Iran has no intention of building or testing a nuclear warhead, this part of the resolution is automatically nullified. Following the U.S. representative's statement at the UN, Abbas Araghchi, the Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister, denied the contents of the statement, saying: 'None of Iran's missiles, whether ballistic or not, are designed to carry a nuclear warhead, and therefore their production and testing do not violate Resolution 2231.' Resolution 2331 of the UN Security Council essentially ratified the nuclear agreement between Iran and the P5+1 group. Based on this agreement, which was concluded on July 14 in Vienna, most of the sanctions imposed against Iran will be lifted in exchange for limiting its nuclear program. This agreement also allows the provision of ballistic missile technology to Iran with the approval of the UN Security Council. However, the United States has committed to using its veto power against such requests. Sanctions on ballistic missile technology will remain in place against Iran for eight years. The U.S., the UK, France, Russia, and China, along with Germany, make up the P5+1 group. The U.S. intends to raise the issue of Iran's missile test for discussion at the UN Security Council while Ayatollah Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, set conditions for the implementation of the nuclear agreement in an official letter to President Hassan Rouhani on the same day. Khamenei also threatened that 'throughout the eight-year period,' the imposition of any sanctions 'at any level and for any reason,' including 'terrorism and human rights,' by the negotiating countries would be considered a violation of the Vienna nuclear agreement, and the government would be obliged to halt the implementation of this agreement.