White House says more work needed before any Iran sanctions

President Hassan Rouhani said Thursday morning on Twitter that he had instructed Iran’s Ministry of Defense to accelerate the development of ballistic missiles in response to the news reports of the impending USA sanctions.

Israeli Minister of National Infrastructure, Energy and Water Resources Yuval Steinitz encouraged on Thursday reported USA plans for new sanctions against Iran over its ballistic missile program. “In many cases, Iranian officials have boasted publicly about taking prohibited actions, leaving them no plausible deniability”, Power said.

The Wall Street Journal, quoting unnamed US officials, said that financial sanctions being developed by the US Treasury Department remain on the table, after the decision to delay them.

Foreign ministry spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari earlier said any interventionist measure by the USA in respect of Iran’s missile program would be “unilateral, arbitrary and illegal”. US Secretary of State John Kerry described the shipment as “one of the most significant steps Iran has taken toward fulfilling its commitment”.

“There has been no interruption in the process of designing and manufacturing defensive ballistic missiles”, Dehqan said, adding that the Iranian armed forces will employ all indigenous potential and equipment to strengthen the country’s defense power, regardless of what foreigners say or do. Rouhani said Iran would not accept any curbs on its missile program.

The United States and its allies have pushed for new UN sanctions over the missile test.

However, Iran says the resolution only bans missiles “designed” to carry a nuclear warhead, not “capable of”.

Iranian officials have said the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, would view such penalties as violating the nuclear accord.

Furthermore, over the weekend, five ships belonging to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard reportedly approached a USA aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf and, while within 1,500 yards of the ship, launched a number of missiles at an undetermined target.

Republican lawmakers who control both houses of the US Congress see the plans for new sanctions as a test of the Obama administration’s resolve.

Spokesperson General Ramezan Sharif accused the United States of fabricating the alleged December 26 incident as part of a “psychological operation”.

Ahead of the formal easing of worldwide sanctions on Tehran set for the beginning of 2016, tensions have mounted.

“Iran’s missile capabilities have never been the subject of negotiations with the Americans and will never be”, he said on Iranian station Press TV.