Mike Pompeo warns Iran for missile tests
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Roshan Amiri
- . April 27, 2020
- . Update: April 29, 2020 7:35 am
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned of the danger of Iran’s “non-peaceful” space program, after the announcement of its military satellite launch.Iran announced on Wednesday that it had successfully launched its first military satellite. Iran’s launch of the military satellite shows, according to the American minister, that its space program is “not peaceful.”
The satellite launch is the latest step in a program the United States says is helping Iran develop ballistic missile technology. Pompeo considered that the technology used to launch the “Nur 1″ satellite is the same as that used to launch ballistic missiles.”All nations committed to peace must condemn the development of (these) technologies” and to unite in order to “contain the threat of Iran’s missile program,” the statement continued.He called for an extension of the ban on the sale of conventional weapons to Iran after next October.
Pompeo’s call comes after Tehran announced its launch of a military satellite by using ballistic technology, which the United States deems “dangerous”.This ban was mentioned in the agreement on Iran’s nuclear program, which was signed in 2015 and from which the United States unilaterally withdrew in 2018.
In a statement released on Saturday, the US Secretary of State said, “The country that supports both terrorism and anti-Semitism should not be allowed to buy or sell conventional weapons.”Pompeo also called on the European Union to “punish the individuals and entities that cooperated in this program”.
Last February, Tehran failed to deliver a satellite into space. The experiment sparked US concern that Iran would use long-range ballistic technology to put satellites into orbit, as a cover for launching nuclear warheads.
The process raised suspicions that Iran was taking “scientific” experiments as a pretext to develop its nuclear programs.The United States has refused to allow Iran to conduct scientific activities in connection with nuclear tests, including ballistic missile launches capable of carrying nuclear weapons.At that time, Iran had approved the use of a new ballistic missile with a range of more than 500 km during the satellite launch, while Washington condemned the matter.
The United States has previously expressed concerns about Iran’s satellite program, describing a carrier missile launched in January 2019 as a “provocation” and a violation of the restrictions imposed on its development of ballistic missiles.
UN Security Council Resolution 2231 of July 20th, 2015, obliges “Iran not to carry out any activity related to ballistic missiles that are manufactured to carry nuclear charges, including launches and scientific experiments using ballistic missile technology.”
These developments come a few days after Iran made provocative statements to Washington that stoke tensions between the two parties after witnessing a relative decline in recent months in light of the world’s preoccupation with combating the pandemic of the corona virus.
