A missile unveiled by Iran is launched at an unknown location in Iran on this image received by Reuters on August 20, 2020.
WANA News Agency | via Reuters
WASHINGTON – Iran unveiled a new surface-to-surface ballistic missile on Thursday, a move Washington is likely to discover as the Trump administration seeks to purge the regime’s missile and nuclear ambitions.
Iranian Defense Minister Amir Hatami said in a television address that the missile has a range of about 870 miles and that it was named after the Iranian generation Qasem Soleimani. Hatami also said the regime had a new cruise missile with a range of more than 620 miles and was named after Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.
Soleimani and Mahdi al-Muhandis were both killed in a US strike in January while riding in a convoy.
Hatami added that the new missiles “will further strengthen Iran’s reinforcing force.”
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani described the nation’s new missiles as important for defense.
“Rockets and especially cruise missiles are very important to us … the fact that we have increased the range from 300 to 1,000 in less than two years is a great achievement,” Rouhani said. “Our military power and missile programs are defensive,” he added.
A new cruise missile unveiled by Iran and named martyr Abu Mahdi can be seen at an unknown location in Iran in this photo received by Reuters on August 20, 2020.
WANA News Agency | Reuters
The latest revelation comes when the Trump administration urged members of the UN Security Council to extend a UN arms embargo on Iran. The embargo is currently set to end in October under the 2015 nuclear deal brokered by a broker by the Obama administration.
Last week, the UN Security Council voted not to extend the international arms embargo on Iran, a decision urging Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to formally notify the group on Thursday of the US intention to “snap back” or all UN sanctions on Iran.
Thirty days after Pompeo’s notification, a range of UN sanctions will be restored, including the requirement that Iran suspend all enrichment-related activities. The ‘snap back’ will also extend the 13-year arms embargo on Iran.
“Secretary Pompeo’s notification to the Council follows his unspeakable failure last week to extend the arms embargo on the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism and anti-Semitism,” State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus wrote in an email.
Tensions between Washington and Tehran have been added following Trump’s withdrawal from the landmark Iran nuclear deal in 2018, calling it “the worst deal ever.”
The 2015 nuclear deal lifted sanctions on Iran that killed its economy and cut its oil production roughly in half. In exchange for relief from sanctions, Iran accepted borders on its nuclear program and allowed international inspectors to allow its facilities.
Trump has previously said the US wants to reach a broader agreement with Iran that sets stricter boundaries for its nuclear and ballistic missile work and suppresses the regime’s role in regional proxy wars. Tehran has refused to negotiate while US sanctions remain in place.
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