White House: more time needed for new Iran missile sanctions

“In view of America’s recent hostile steps and the esteemed President (Hassan Rouhani)’s emphasis, we will increase the speed and scope of our missile capabilities”, Dehqan said.

The advanced missiles could pose a threat to Camp Thunder Cove, a small isolated United States air base in the Indian Ocean, according to the RT news agency.

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.

“Iran’s missile capabilities have never been the subject of negotiations with the Americans and will never be”, he added.

In October, Senator Corker, along with committee members Senators Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), David Perdue (R-Ga.), and Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), wrote a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry seeking a determination on the ballistic missile test and how the US would respond.

A UN experts’ report in December said that Iran violated UN Security Council Resolution 1929 by test-firing the Emad missile as it is capable of delivering a nuclear warhead. Tehran disagrees, saying the new sanctions would void the nuclear deal.

“Today the Americans speak about Iran’s missile development program and they want to impose new sanctions on Iran”, the semi-official Fars news agency quoted General Hossein Salami as saying in a speech during Friday prayers in Tehran.

The U.S. confirmed that Iran tested a medium-range missile capable of delivering a nuclear weapon, in “clear violation” of a Security Council ban on ballistic missile tests.

The sanctions would have been the first imposed on Iran since the nuclear agreement was reached in July.

Rhodes spoke in Hawaii as President Barack Obama wraps up his Christmas vacation.

“The US will regret its behavior and realize such actions [imposing sanctions] will bring about no benefits”, he said.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari on Thursday called the planned sanctions “unilateral, arbitrary and illegal”. On Implementation Day, the U.N., European Union and USA will all lift certain nuclear-related sanctions against Iran. Under the agreement, many economic sanctions on Iran will be relaxed – possibly within weeks – in exchange for Iran’s verifiable guarantees of peaceful nuclear work.

Even if they aren’t, they are a drop in the bucket compared to the more than $100 billion in sanctions relief Tehran is going to get probably later this month. As part of the deal, the USA committed to unfreezing as much as $100 billion in Iranian oil money frozen in overseas accounts.