BICOM

The new US administration is considering imposing new sanctions on Iran as early as today, in the wake of new ballistic missile testing earlier this week.

According to Reuters, new sanctions are being considered over “non-nuclear activities” so as not to violate the July 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and the P5+1 powers (US, UK, France, Russia, China and Germany), which stipulated an end to nuclear-related sanctions. New sanctions would reportedly target individuals, companies and organisations which aid Iran’s ballistic missile programme.

On Wednesday, Iran’s Defence Minister Hossein Dehghan confirmed that Tehran had carried out a ballistic missile test. It is thought that the Khorramshahr missile flew 600 miles from a site near Semnan, east of Tehran before exploding, in a failed test of a re-entry vehicle. In addition, the German daily Die Welt reported yesterday that Iran had also tested a home-made cruise missile, capable of carrying a nuclear warhead and with the ability to reach Israel.

New US National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn, called Iran’s missile testing “provocative” and warned that Iran had been put “on notice”. Yesterday, US President Donald Trump echoed Flynn’s sentiments, replying that “nothing is off the table” when asked by reporters whether a military response was a possibility.

Iran’s Fars news agency quoted senior official, Ali Akbar Velayati, who described Trump as an “extremist” who had alienated many Americans.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday urged further sanctions on Iran, following Tehran’s “flagrant breach” of UN Security Council resolutions.

UN Security Council Resolution 2231, passed the day after the 2015 nuclear accord was signed, calls upon Iran to refrain from any work on ballistic missiles for eight years.