Senior Iran official mocks US threats over missile test as ‘useless’

A top adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said today that Iran will not yield to “useless” US threats from “an inexperienced person” over its ballistic missile programme.

US President Donald Trump’s national security adviser, Michael Flynn, said yesterday that the United States was putting Iran on notice over its “destabilising activity” after it test-fired a ballistic missile.

Trump echoed that language today, saying in a tweet “Iran has been formally put on notice” after his administration said it was reviewing how to respond to the launch that Iran said was solely for defensive purposes.

Iran admitted yesterday that it had tested the new ballistic missile but said it did not breach a nuclear deal reached with six major powers in 2015 or a UN Security Council resolution that endorsed the accord.

“This is not the first time that an inexperienced person has threatened Iran…the American government will understand that threatening Iran is useless,” Ali Akbar Velayati said, without identifying any US official specifically in his comments.

“Iran does not need permission from any country to defend itself,” he was quoted as saying by the semi-official Fars news agency. Khamenei is the country’s most powerful figure, and can overrule even President Hassan Rouhani without needing to give any excuse.

The post of supreme leader, sometimes translated as “supreme guide”, is an unelected position that trumps any elected post. Since the creation of the Islamic Republic, only two people have ever held the post of supreme leader – Ali Khamenei, and his predecessor and founder of modern Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi also criticised the US comments. “Instead of thanking Iran for its continued fight against terrorism … the American government is practically helping the terrorists by claims about Iran that are baseless, repetitive and provocative,” state television quoted him as saying.

A US official said Iran had test-launched the medium-range ballistic missile on Sunday and it exploded after travelling 1,010 kilometres. Iran said it had been a successful launch.

A series of tests conducted by Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) in 2016 caused international concern, with some powers saying any launch of nuclear-capable ballistic missiles would violate UN Security Council resolution 2231.

Nuclear deal

 The IRGC maintains an arsenal of dozens of short and medium-range ballistic missiles – the largest in the Middle East, according to the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).

Under the nuclear agreement, most sanctions were lifted a year ago. But Iran is still subject to an UN arms embargo and other restrictions, which are not technically part of the deal.

Trump has frequently criticised the Iran nuclear deal, which restricts Tehran’s nuclear activities in exchange for the lifting of the sanctions, calling the agreement weak and ineffective. He tweeted on Thursday that Iran “should have been thankful for the terrible deal the US made with them”.

Iran’s Defence Minister Hossein Dehghan told the semi-official Tasnim news agency today: “The missile test on Sunday was successful … the test was not a violation of a nuclear deal with world powers or any UN resolution.”

German newspaper Die Welt, citing unspecified intelligence sources, reported today that Iran had tested a home-made cruise missile called “Sumar” that is capable of carrying nuclear weapons.

Tasnim news agency two years ago published pictures of the Sumar missile, reporting that it was successfully test-fired.

While Iran says its missile programme is aimed at displaying the country’s “deterrent power and its ability to confront any threat”, some IRGC commanders have said that Iran’s medium-range ballistic missiles were designed to be able to hit Israel.

UN Security Council Resolution 2231 states: “Iran is called upon not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using such ballistic missile technology.”