Washington Postpones Imposing New Sanctions on Tehran Over Missile Program

Iran violated a U.N. Security Council resolution in October by test-firing a missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead, a team of sanctions monitors said, leading to calls in the U.S. Congress on Tuesday for more sanctions on Tehran.

Weeks before its implementation, the Iran nuclear deal may be at risk due to reports that the US Treasury Department plans to blacklist entities linked to Iran’s ballistic missile program.

Iranian officials have insisted that their ballistic missile program does not violate United Nations sanctions and the country’s supreme leader would view any new sanctions as violating the nuclear accord.

Almost two dozen Senate Democrats have heaped pressure on the Obama administration during the month of December to do something in response to the October and November launches, which run afoul of UN Security Council Resolution 1929.

“Iran’s missile programme is in no way part of the JCPOA”, he said, giving the deal its official name, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

Meanwhile, the Iranian government continues to protest that its missile testing is unrelated to the nuclear agreement with the United States.

“We have never negotiated regarding our defense capabilities, including our missile program & will not accept any restrictions in this regard”, he said in another tweet.

Military spokesman Ramezan Shariff said that Iranian forces did not carry out any drills or fire rockets on Saturday near the key route for oil exports out of the Gulf.

“We’ve been looking for some time‎ at options for additional actions related to Iran’s ballistic missile program based on our continued concerns about its activities”, an Obama administration official was quoted as saying.

“As long as the United States supports Israel we will expand our missile capabilities”, said the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ deputy chief, Brigadier General Hossein Salami, Fars news agency reported.

Iran has quite a few variants in its arsenal of ballistic missiles. If implemented, the sanctions would bar USA citizens from doing business with people and companies named on the list and would require US banks to freeze any of their assets in the US financial system.

The fact that the US appears to be considering additional sanctions will undoubtedly provoke anger from both political leaders in Iran and their ultimate bosses, the mullahs.

After a last minute delay by the White House of new sanctions on Iran connected with its ballistic missile program, a top Iranian official wrote on Friday that Tehran will develop missiles with a range of 5,000 kilometers – if they are imposed.

But US officials offered no definitive timeline for when the sanctions would be imposed.

“Any steps taken outside the agreement are unacceptable to Iran, and Iran will take its own steps in response where necessary”, Jaber Ansari said Monday referring to the legislation.