US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. (AP/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
Iran must “cease immediately all activities related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons,” Pompeo stated.
By Jack Gold, World Israel News
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Saturday condemned Iran for its latest ballistic missile test, charging that it was another breach of U.N. Security Council UNSC) resolutions by the Islamic Republic.
“The Iranian regime has just test-fired a medium-range ballistic missile that is capable of carrying multiple warheads. The missile has a range that allows it to strike parts of Europe and anywhere in the Middle East,” Pompeo said.
The test “violates U.N. Security Council resolution 2231 that bans Iran from undertaking ‘any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using such ballistic missile technology,’” he added.
A day after Tehran and six world powers signed the nuclear accord in 2015, the U.N. passed resolution 2231, which compels Iran to refrain from any work on ballistic missiles for eight years. U.N. Security Council Resolution 1929 was passed in 2010 and bans Iran from conducting ballistic missile tests.
“As we have been warning for some time, Iran’s missile testing and missile proliferation is growing,” Pompeo pointed out while warning that “we are accumulating risk of escalation in the region if we fail to restore deterrence.”
Pompeo demanded that Iran “cease immediately all activities related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons,” he said.
Just last month, a senior Iranian general threatened to attack U.S. bases and aircraft carriers in the Middle East and Afghanistan, saying they were an easy target for Tehran’s missiles.
Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force, stated that the IRGC has been focused on improving its missiles’ precision for the past decade, acting on the orders of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Hajizadeh said that all U.S. military bases in the region are within the range of Iran’s missiles, specifically naming the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar and the Al Dhafra Air Base in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), situated some 300 kilometers away from Iran, and the Kandahar base in Afghanistan, which is only kilometers away from Iran.
The U.S. has several large bases in Arab countries in the region, including the forward headquarters of the U.S. military’s Central Command in Qatar, American bases in the UAE and the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet in Bahrain.
“Those bases are soft targets for Iran and will be hit if the enemy makes a wrong move,” Hajizadeh warned.
Describing the country’s missile capabilities as an asset, he warned Iran’s “enemies” of the “high costs of infuriating the Iranian nation.”
The U.S. has since imposed new sanctions on Iran, while Pompeo has warned that Washington would respond swiftly and powerfully to any Iranian attack on U.S. interests.
Iran claims its military development is for defense purposes only. However, many of these weapons were given to the Hezbollah terror organization and used against Israel’s civilian population during the Second Lebanon War in the summer of 2006.
Iran has repeatedly threatened to use its missiles against Israel.
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