Don Emmert—AFP
Tehran accuses Washington of trying to weaken nuclear deal
A defiant Iran vowed on Saturday to press ahead with its missile program and condemned new U.S. sanctions, as tensions rise after the West hardened its tone against the Islamic republic.
In the latest incident, Tehran and Washington accused each other’s naval forces of provocative maneuvers in the Gulf that culminated in a U.S. helicopter firing warning flares.
The U.S. Navy said it had reacted to unresponsive vessels belonging to the Revolutionary Guards closing in on American ships at high speed, a charge denied by Iran, which described the American move as unprovoked.
“At 4 p.m. (1130 GMT) on Friday, the supercarrier USS Nimitz and its accompanying warship, while being monitored by the Guards’ frigates, flew a helicopter near the Resalat oil and gas platform and approached the force’s ships,” the Iranian paramilitary force said. “The Americans in a provocative and unprofessional move, sent a warning message to the frigates and fired flares,” it said. The Guards “ignored the unconventional move by the U.S. ships and continued their mission.”
The U.S. Navy said its ships were on a routine patrol when an American helicopter “observed several Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps naval vessels approaching U.S. naval forces at a high rate of speed.”
“U.S. naval forces attempted to establish communications, with no response from the Iranian vessels. Shortly thereafter, at a safe distance, the U.S. helicopter deployed flares, after which the Iranian vessels halted their approach,” it said.
The latest incident came after a U.S. Navy ship fired warning shots at a Guards boat in similar circumstances on Tuesday, with each side blaming the other. There have been a string of close encounters between U.S. ships and Iranian vessels in the Gulf in recent months.
On the political front, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi said Tehran condemned new U.S. sanctions against its missile program, which U.S. President Donald Trump is set to sign into law, and vowed to press on. “We will continue with full power our missile program,” he said. “We consider the action by the U.S. as hostile, reprehensible and unacceptable, and it’s ultimately an effort to weaken the nuclear deal.”
Ghasemi was referring to the 2015 agreement between Iran and U.S.-led world powers that lifted some sanctions on Tehran in return for curbs on its nuclear program. “The military and missile fields… are our domestic policies and others have no right to intervene or comment on them,” Ghasemi said.
The sanctions bill, which also targets Russia and North Korea, was passed by the U.S. Senate on Thursday, two days after being approved by the House of Representatives. Separately on Friday, Washington imposed new sanctions targeting Iran’s missile program, one day after Tehran tested a satellite-launch rocket.
Iranian state television broadcast footage of the launch from the Imam Khomeini space center in the eastern province of Semnan. The launch vehicle was capable of propelling a satellite weighing 550 pounds into orbit at an altitude of 300 miles, it said.
Western governments suspect Iran of trying to develop the technology for longer-range missiles with conventional or nuclear payloads, a charge denied by Tehran, which insists its space program has purely peaceful aims. In a joint statement, Britain, France, Germany and the U.S. condemned Tehran’s “destabilizing” action, saying “Iran’s program to develop ballistic missiles continues to be inconsistent” with U.N. Security Council Resolution 2231 that endorsed the nuclear deal. “We call on Iran not to conduct any further ballistic missile launches and related activities,” they said.
Resolution 2231 called on Iran not to “undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons,” and an arms embargo has remained in place.
The United States has had no diplomatic ties with the Iran since 1980, and Trump has halted the direct contacts initiated by his predecessor Barack Obama.
Tensions have mounted between Washington and Tehran since Trump took office six months ago vowing to be the best friend of Israel. At U.N. headquarters in New York on Friday, U.S. envoy Nikki Haley expressed mistrust of Iran.
“Iran’s widespread support for terrorists tells us we can’t trust them. Iran’s breaking its obligation on missile testing tells us we can’t trust them. Yesterday’s launch proves that yet again,” she said.
Despite his electoral promise to tear apart what he once called “the worst deal ever,” Trump has so far respected the nuclear agreement. The joint U.S.-European statement said that Iran’s latest test features technology related to “ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons.”
Iran insists it has “proven its compliance with the nuclear deal” as repeatedly confirmed by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
1 comment
Trump is trying to get a do-over from the fumble made by the Obama administration and reset the terms of engaging with Iran to place issues such as ballistic missiles, human rights and terrorism back at the top of the agenda where they belonged in the first place.
It is an argument that has been made for years now by the Iranian opposition movement which warned that Iran would take advantage of the nuclear deal to rebuild its armed forces and fund its proxy war efforts rather than invest it back into the economy for the benefit of the Iranian people.
For the regime, it must seem like they are trying to hold off the inevitable with the ever-rising tide of sanctions now being imposed almost daily.
This ultimately gives the Trump administration significant leverage to force back an expansionist Iran; leverage that the Obama administration never sought to use much to the dismay of the peoples of Syria, Yemen, Iraq and Afghanistan.