The thaw in relations between the United States and Iran resulting from the nuclear deal signed by Tehran with the Western powers is under strain due to a row over Iran’s missile programme. Washington has threatened to impose new sanctions even as the majority of sanctions it had imposed earlier are due to be lifted under the nuclear deal. Both sides are unlikely to precipitate a crisis that will undo the gains of years of hard work, but the current dispute exposes Iran’s fickleness and unreliability.
Iran says its missile capabilities have never been the subject of negotiations with the Americans and would never be, while the US disagrees. Ratcheting up tension, an official of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards has said the country has so many missiles “they don’t know where to hide them”. “We lack enough space in our stockpiles to house our missiles. Hundreds of long tunnels are full of missiles ready to fly to protect your integrity, independence and freedom,” General Hossein Salami, the Guards’ deputy, told Friday worshippers in Tehran and promised to never “stop developing our defence deterrent”.
Such comments pose a huge challenge to Barack Obama as the US and European Union plan to dismantle nearly all international sanctions against Iran under the agreement reached in July. Iran has abided by the main terms of the nuclear agreement, such as giving up material that could be used to make an atomic weapon. But it has been stubborn on its missile programme, and in an act of defiance, test-fired a missile in October. According to Washington, the missile is capable of carrying a nuclear payload and therefore violates a 2010 UN Security Council resolution which is still in place. Tehran does not accept that the UN resolution bars it from testing missiles because it has no nuclear weapons to place on them. US is saying they can respond by imposing new sanctions against individuals and businesses linked to the missile programme while Iran maintains new sanctions will scupper the nuclear deal. According to a Wall Street Journal report, an announcement of new US sanctions was planned for this week but delayed for an unspecified period.
The row has become a new thorn for leaders in US and Iran who are eager to move forward after the nuclear deal. It is unlikely to snowball into a situation that would torpedo the nuclear deal. Tehran will have to move cautiously on the missile programme because Obama will face stiff opposition from Republican lawmakers who control both houses of the US Congress.
Meanwhile, our region can only look with concern at Iran’s missile programme, especially at a time when a resurgent Iran is plotting a bigger role in the geopolitical affairs.
The thaw in relations between the United States and Iran resulting from the nuclear deal signed by Tehran with the Western powers is under strain due to a row over Iran’s missile programme. Washington has threatened to impose new sanctions even as the majority of sanctions it had imposed earlier are due to be lifted under the nuclear deal. Both sides are unlikely to precipitate a crisis that will undo the gains of years of hard work, but the current dispute exposes Iran’s fickleness and unreliability.
Iran says its missile capabilities have never been the subject of negotiations with the Americans and would never be, while the US disagrees. Ratcheting up tension, an official of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards has said the country has so many missiles “they don’t know where to hide them”. “We lack enough space in our stockpiles to house our missiles. Hundreds of long tunnels are full of missiles ready to fly to protect your integrity, independence and freedom,” General Hossein Salami, the Guards’ deputy, told Friday worshippers in Tehran and promised to never “stop developing our defence deterrent”.
Such comments pose a huge challenge to Barack Obama as the US and European Union plan to dismantle nearly all international sanctions against Iran under the agreement reached in July. Iran has abided by the main terms of the nuclear agreement, such as giving up material that could be used to make an atomic weapon. But it has been stubborn on its missile programme, and in an act of defiance, test-fired a missile in October. According to Washington, the missile is capable of carrying a nuclear payload and therefore violates a 2010 UN Security Council resolution which is still in place. Tehran does not accept that the UN resolution bars it from testing missiles because it has no nuclear weapons to place on them. US is saying they can respond by imposing new sanctions against individuals and businesses linked to the missile programme while Iran maintains new sanctions will scupper the nuclear deal. According to a Wall Street Journal report, an announcement of new US sanctions was planned for this week but delayed for an unspecified period.
The row has become a new thorn for leaders in US and Iran who are eager to move forward after the nuclear deal. It is unlikely to snowball into a situation that would torpedo the nuclear deal. Tehran will have to move cautiously on the missile programme because Obama will face stiff opposition from Republican lawmakers who control both houses of the US Congress.
Meanwhile, our region can only look with concern at Iran’s missile programme, especially at a time when a resurgent Iran is plotting a bigger role in the geopolitical affairs.
