A warning to Iran

Days after President Trump’s national security adviser stepped into the White House press room to warn Iran over its ballistic missile tests, the administration brought the hammer down.

Yesterday the Treasury Department imposed sanctions on 13 people and a dozen companies all involved in helping Iran acquire ballistic missile technology. They include Iranians, Lebanese, Chinese and Emirati. The companies and individuals named will be prohibited from doing any business in the United States or with U.S. companies.

“Iran’s continued support for terrorism and development of its ballistic missile program poses a threat to the region, to our partners worldwide,” John E. Smith, acting sanctions chief in the Treasury Department, said in a statement.

Michael Flynn, the president’s national security adviser, warned earlier, “We are officially putting Iran on notice.”

It’s a good thing in international relations when there’s actual follow-through, rather than idle threats.

Since the conclusion of the agreement limiting Iran’s nuclear capabilities, Iran has conducted 12 tests of an intermediate-range ballistic missile. The nuclear agreement does not cover missiles, and Iran is under no prohibition, only an exhortation from the United Nations, which said it “calls upon” Iran to refrain from developing and testing such missiles.

Iran says the missiles cannot carry nuclear warheads. People who remember Iran’s years of lying about its nuclear work can be excused some skepticism.

Iran objects that the United States promised in the nuclear agreement not to revive sanctions, but if missiles are not covered, neither are countermoves to protect the interests of the United States and its allies. A non-nuclear ballistic missile can still threaten the entire region.

Witness the missile strike this week by Shiite rebels in Yemen (known as Houthis) on a warship belonging to the Saudi-based coalition working to restore Yeman’s lawful government. There seems little doubt the missiles were an Iranian product.

In a tweet Friday morning, Trump followed with his usual bombast: “Iran is playing with fire — they don’t appreciate how ‘kind’ President Obama was to them. Not me.”

Well, OK, the president is not shy about patting himself on the back.

But it is time that Iran understands that this administration isn’t drawing any red lines it doesn’t intend to enforce.