Iran satellite a violation: US

washington — Tensions simmered in the region again as US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday accused Iran of violating a UN Security Council resolution through a satellite launch and vowed repercussions.

“I think Iran needs to be held accountable for what they’ve done,” Pompeo told reporters.

Iran announced on Wednesday that it had put its first military satellite in orbit after repeated tries and despite intense economic and military pressure from President Donald Trump’s administration.

Earlier on Wednesday, Trump said he had instructed the US Navy to fire on any Iranian ships that harass it at sea, a week after 11 vessels from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy came dangerously close to American ships in the Gulf.

“I have instructed the United States Navy to shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass our ships at sea,” Trump tweeted. The Trump government has long argued that Iran’s satellite activities were a cover for ballistic missile work.

“The Iranians have consistently said that these missile programmes were disconnected from the military, that these were purely commercial enterprises,” Pompeo said. “I think today’s launch proves what we’ve been saying all along here in the United States,” he said. —

I have instructed the United States Navy to shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass our ships at sea. Donald Trump, US President