Trump administration says it’s putting Iran ‘on notice’ following missile test – Washington Post

The Trump administration said Wednesday it was officially putting Iran on notice that it is paying attention to what it called defiance of nuclear agreements with its test launch of a ballistic missile.

The launch, along with Tuesdays attack by Houthi rebels on a Saudi warship off the coast of Yemen, underscore what should have been clear to the international community all along about Irans destabilizing behavior across the Middle East, said Michael T. Flynn, President Trumps national security adviser.

Flynn read the Iran statement at the regular White House press briefing and did not take questions.

In his first media appearance since the inauguration, Flynn recalled that Trump during his campaign criticized the nuclear deal negotiated by the Obama administration with world powers, Iran and the United Nations as being weak and ineffective.

Instead of being thankful to the United States for these agreements, he said, Iran now feels emboldened. The brief statement, calling the missile launch provocative, did not outline any actions the administration intends to take.

Irans launch Sunday of a medium-range Khorramshahr missile ended in failure, with the missile reportedly traveling about 600 miles before exploding in the air.

The United States called for an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council. Following the Tuesday session, Nikki Haley, the new U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said the world should be alarmed by the test and called for unspecified U.N. action.

In a Tehran news conference Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif did not confirm the launch but said that the missile issue is not part of the nuclear deal. Iranian missiles are not designed for the capability of carrying a nuclear warhead, he said. Our ballistic missile was designed to carry a normal warhead in the field of legitimate defense.

The agreement, which took effect a year ago, prohibits development of ballistic missiles as part of a nuclear weapons program that the accord was designed to prevent. Differences of opinion on whether the launch is a violation of the agreement rest on interpretation of the strength of the nuclear deal and of Irans intentions.

Although a number of Republican presidential primary candidates, and some members of Congress, have called for tearing up the agreement, Trump has not taken that position. He has called it a bad deal and said his administration would review it to determine whether it should be renegotiated.

U.S. partners in the negotiations, including Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia, have warned against a renegotiation of the deal, under which severe restrictions on a nuclear program Iran insisted was solely for energy production were put in place in exchange for the lifting of nuclear-related U.S. and international sanctions.

Flynn also referenced the Saudi warship that was attacked Tuesday by Houthi rebels in Yemen. A rebel suicide boat exploded after striking the ship, which was patrolling off the Yemeni coast. Two Saudi sailors were killed.

Saudi Arabia is fighting Yemeni rebels from the Houthi tribe who have taken over broad swaths of the neighboring country. Its actions include offshore naval patrols to intercept what it has said are Iranian arms supplies to the rebels.

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Trump administration says it's putting Iran 'on notice' following missile test - Washington Post

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