Iran tests new medium-range ballistic missiles

Iran has confirmed it has launched a recent ballistic missile test, in what appears to be a breach of a UN resolution and Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers.

Iran was accused of launching a medium-range missile earlier this month by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, a charge Tehran denied.

Pompeo has said that Iran had test-fired “a medium-range ballistic missile that is capable of carrying multiple warheads.” The missile could hit all of the Middle East and parts of Europe, Pompeo said.

U.S. President Donald Trump pulled out of an international agreement on Iran’s nuclear programme in May and reimposed sanctions on Tehran. He said the deal was flawed because it did not include curbs on Iran’s development of ballistic missiles or its support for proxies in Syria, Yemen, Lebanon, and Iraq.

“We will continue our missile tests and this recent action was an important test,” Amirali Hajizadeh, head of the Revolutionary Guards’ airspace division, said, as quoted by Fars News. He added: “The reaction of the Americans shows that this test was very important for them and that’s why they were shouting.”

Iran carries out up to 50 missile tests a year, Hajizadeh said.

The Iranian government has ruled out negotiations with Washington over its military capabilities, particularly its missile programme run by the Guards.

It says its missile programme is purely defensive and denies its missiles are capable of being tipped with nuclear warheads.

The British ambassador to the UN Karen Pierce said the test on December 1 was inconsistent with Resolution 2231 and went “way beyond legitimate defensive needs”.

Resolution 2231 requires 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.

In October, the Revolutionary Guards fired missiles at Islamic State militants in Syria after the Islamist group took responsibility for an attack at a military parade in Iran that killed 25 people, nearly half of the members of the Guards.