Iran test-fires new ballistic missile, defying U.S. warnings
Missile can carry several warheads
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran said it has successfully tested a new ballistic missile that can carry multiple warheads and travel up to 1,200 miles, in a show of defiance against the United States.
The Khorramshahr rocket was shown at a military parade in Tehran on Friday.
Iranian television showed video Saturday of the test launch from an unknown location, Iran’s Press TV reported.
The missile test came after U.S. President Donald Trump and Rowhani traded insults at the United Nations this week.
Trump told world leaders gathered in New York for the annual U.N. General Assembly that the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran was “an embarrassment” and “one of the worst” deals the U.S. had ever made.
In his speech, Rowhani responded by saying it would “a great pity” if the deal was “destroyed by rogue newcomers to the world of politics.”
After a thaw in relations between the United States and Iran under President Barack Obama, the Trump administration said in February it was putting Iran “on notice” for its ballistic missile tests.
The Trump administration then imposed new sanctions against Iranian entities and officials in July in response to the missile program.
Rowhani accuses Trump of attempting to sabotage the nuclear agreement between Iran and six world powers. It permits Iran to use nuclear power for civil purposes, but not for nuclear weapons.
The deal lifted nuclearrelated sanctions against Iran in exchange for the country allowing inspections of its nuclear sites and reductions in its stocks of low-enriched uranium.
Nothing in the nuclear agreement covers the country’s missile program, Tehran has noted, claiming it is solely for defense.
Government spokesman Mohammed Bagher Nobacht repeated that sentiment Saturday, saying the missile was absolutely necessary for self-defense, according to the IRNA news agency.
“We can’t count on getting our safety needs met from abroad,” Nobacht said. “We have to ensure them ourselves”
Defense Minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami expressed pride in Iran’s defense policy and said Iran did not need permission from other countries to strengthen that policy.
Hatami added that “discourteous remarks” from Trump would also have no effect, he said, according to Press TV.
Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman called the missile test a “provocation and defiance towards the United States and its allies, including Israel.”
He added that the missile test was “further proof of Iran’s aspiration to become a world power and to threaten not only the Middle Eastern states, but all the countries of the free world.”