Europe takes debate on Iran missile test to UN
The UN Security Council was yesterday to debate whether a purported ballistic missile test by Iran at the weekend could amount to a breach of Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers.
Britain, France and Germany – the European countries that along with the US, China and Russia signed the agreement with Iran in 2015 – put the matter before the Security Council, which will gather in a closed meeting.
The potential breach relates to UN resolution 2231, a provision agreed to at the same time but not part of the nuclear deal, relating to Iran’s missile programme.
Speaking briefly before the Security Council meeting, British, French and Dutch ambassadors refused to say if the December 1 test breached the nuclear agreement but said it was inconsistent with Iran’s obligations.
“We need to know exactly what happened,” said Karen Pierce, Britain’s permanent representative to the UN, explaining why the European powers had asked for time on the matter at the Security Council.
Ms Pierce’s comments follow those of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo who, a day after the claimed missile test, suggested Iran had contravened the 2015 deal by test-firing a mid-range projectile capable of delivering nuclear weapons.
France said it was concerned about the test, which its Foreign Ministry described as “provocative and destabilising”.
British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt called it “provocative, threatening and inconsistent” with the UN resolution.
It calls on Iran “not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using such ballistic missile technology” until 2024 at the earliest.
But the provision remains controversial because the diplomatic wording – “Iran is called upon not to undertake” – does not explicitly forbid such activity.
Such wording effectively allows test firing to continue, Tehran insists.
Iran also maintains that its missiles are for defensive purposes only and are not designed to nor ever will carry atomic weapons.
An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman in Tehran on Sunday refused to confirm if a test had taken place the day before.
The raising of the potential breach by the European partners in the nuclear deal comes as relations between Iran and the US reach a low ebb after Washington withdrew from the agreement in May and reimposed sanctions on Tehran.