UN URGED TO RESTORE TOUGH MISSILE SANCTIONS ON IRAN

The United States government have called on the United Nations to bring back tougher measures in restricting Iran from further missile tests.

This was on the backdrop of the events that has seen Iran conduct ballistic missile test and two satellite launches since December.

In 2015 , a UN resolution “called upon” Iran to refrain for up to eight years from work on ballistic missiles designed to deliver nuclear weapons following an agreement with six world powers.

In a letter to the 15-member council, acting US Ambassador to the United Nations Jonathan Cohen said Iran tested a medium-range ballistic missile on Dec. 1, 2018, and attempted to place satellites in orbit on Jan. 15 and Feb. 5.

“Iran has carried out these three launches in defiance of the expressed will of the UN Security Council, and such provocations continue to destabilize the entire Middle East region,” Cohen wrote.

When Asked for a response to the letter, spokesman for the Iranian mission to the United Nations Alireza Miryousefi stated that Iran does not have any ballistic missiles designed to carry nuclear weapons “therefore none of the ballistic missile launches of Iran are covered by that resolution.”

The UN sanctions and restrictions on Iran are contained in the 2015 resolution, which also enshrines the 2015 Iran nuclear accord. European powers have been scrambling to salvage the deal following US President Donald Trump’s withdrawal of the United States in May 2018.