U.N. Security Council to meet on Iranian ballistic missile test
UNSC members France and Great Britain requested the meeting, which will be held in New York.
By TOVAH LAZAROFF, REUTERSUpdated: DECEMBER 4, 2018 13:59A Nour missile is test fired off Iran's first domestically made destroyer, Jamaran, on the southern shores of Iran in the Persian Gulf March 9, 2010(photo credit: REUTERS/EBRAHIM NOROOZI/IIPA)
The United Nations Security Council on Tuesday is set to hold closed door consultations on Iran’s test over the weekend of a medium-range ballistic missile, according to media report.UNSC members France and Great Britain requested the meeting, which will be held in New York."France is concerned about Iran's mid-range ballistic missile test last Saturday. It condemns this provocative and destabilizing action," France’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Agnes von der Muhll said in a statement.She said the test did not comply with UN Security Council Resolution 2231 and called on Tehran to immediately stop all its ballistic missile-related activities designed to carry nuclear weapons.Iran said on Sunday it would continue missile tests to build up its defenses and denied this was in breach of UN resolutions.US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Saturday condemned what he called Iran's testing of a medium-range ballistic missile in violation of the 2015 international agreement on the Iranian nuclear program, from which Washington has withdrawn."Missile tests ... are carried out for defense and the country's deterrence, and we will continue this," Brigadier- General Abolfazl Shekarchi, spokesman for Iran's armed forces, was quoted as saying by the semi-official Tasnim news agency."We will continue to both develop and test missiles. This is outside the framework of (nuclear) negotiations and part of our national security, for which we will not ask any country's permission," Shekarchi said.UN Security Council resolution 2231 enshrined Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States in which Tehran curbed its disputed uranium enrichment program in exchange for an end to international sanctions.The resolution says Iran is "called upon" to refrain for up to eight years from work on ballistic missiles designed to deliver nuclear weapons.
