Iran responds to threat of sanctions by promising to expand missile tests

In what is widely interpreted as an attempt to de-escalate tension between Tehran and Washington, the White House said Saturday it needs more time before announcing any sanctions over Iran’s ballistic missile program.

USA officials have said the Treasury Department retains a right under the nuclear deal to blacklist Iranian entities suspected of involvement in missile development.

The former IRGC commander thanked Rouhani for his swift follow-up order to reports of United States sanctions resumption where he obliged the Defense Ministry to heat up Iran’s missile program, Rezaei’s official website wrote January 1.

Both countries agree that the missile program is separate from the nuclear deal, which rewards Iran’s agreement to curb its nuclear program with the lifting of sanctions.

Rhodes made the remarks in Hawaii, where President Barack Obama is on vacation.

The Revolutionary Guards’ second-in-command, Brigadier General Hossein Salami, said that as long as the USA supports Israel, Iran will expand its missile capabilities, Reuters reports. Platts reported upon this confusion on Tuesday, noting that USA companies feel they are at risk of falling afoul of sanctions enforcement, are being unfairly kept out of the Iranian market compared to their European competitors, and are waiting for clarification from the USA government on these and other points.

“We fully expect them to protest our sanctions”. I fear that pressure from our “partners”-or threats from the Iranian government that it will walk away from the deal or threaten the U.S.in other ways-have caused the administration to rethink imposing sanctions for Iran’s violations of the testing ban”.

Iran says the Security Council resolution, approved in July, would only ban missiles specifically created to carry a nuclear warhead, not those capable of it, so it would not affect its military program as Tehran does not pursues nuclear weapons.

Escalating tensions: This file picture released by the official website of the Iranian Defense Ministry on Sunday, Oct. 11, 2015, claims to show the launching of an Emad long-range ballistic surface-to-surface missile in an undisclosed location. During the past nuclear talks, Iran emphasized that it will never negotiate over its deterrent power, including its missile programme, and will never accept any restrictions in this regard.

The move would be the first American sanctions against Iran since Tehran signed a nuclear deal with world powers in July that will eventually see Washington drop separate sanctions targeting that program. For instance, the International Atomic Energy Agency found that during the last three months, the quantities of low-enriched uranium stockpiled by Iran had actually increased.