France on Thursday accused Iran of violating a UN Security Council resolution endorsing the 2015 nuclear deal after it carried out a long-range ballistic missile test, Reuters reported.
Iran earlier in the day successfully test-launched a ballistic missile with a potential 2,000-km range on, state media said, the latest in ballistic missile tests and satellite launches.
“These activities are all the more worrying in the context of the continuing escalation of Iran’s nuclear program”, French foreign ministry spokesperson Anne-Claire Legendre was quoted as having told reporters at a daily briefing.
Iran”s ballistic missile tests and satellite launches have long been a cause of concern for the West, which says that Iran”s ballistic missile tests are a violation of UN Security Council resolution 2231.
The resolution, which enshrined the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, says Iran is “called upon” to refrain for up to eight years from work on ballistic missiles designed to deliver nuclear weapons.
Iran denies its ballistic missiles violate this UN resolution.
Western powers are particularly concerned because UN Security Council restrictions on missiles and related technologies last until October 2023, after which Iran is free to pursue its ballistic missile activity.
Legendre’s reference to the escalation of Iran’s nuclear program comes just 10 days before the International Atomic Energy Agency’s 35-nation Board of Governors meets in Vienna.
“Iran’s activities pose serious and increased non-proliferation risks without any credible civilian justification,” she said, according to Reuters, adding, “We expect Iran to respect its international obligations … and carry out concrete and tangible progress before the Board of Governors meeting.”
The 2015 nuclear deal hit a snag in 2018, when then-US President Donald Trump pulled out of the deal and reimposed sanctions on Iran.
Iran, in turn, began to scale back its compliance with the deal.
President Joe Biden has sought to revive the deal, but those efforts have been stalled since September.
At that time, Iran submitted a response to a European Union proposal to revive the deal. A senior Biden administration official said the Iranian response “is not at all encouraging.” A US official later said that the efforts to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal have “hit a wall” because of Iran’s insistence on the closure of the UN nuclear watchdog’s investigations.
(Israel National News’ North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shavuot in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)
