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United Kingdom, Germany, and France sent missives to UN Security Council calling Iran's missile program was "inconsistent" with a UN resolution.
Iran has said it is determined to proceed with its ballistic missile program, as it rejected as a "desperate falsehood" the letter from the United Kingdom, Germany, and France to the United Nations Security Council, accusing Tehran of developing missiles capable of delivering nuclear warheads.
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The three Europeans ambassadors called on UN Secretary-General (UNSG) Antonio Guterres to inform in his next report that Iran's missile program was "inconsistent" with a UN resolution underpinning a currently unraveling nuclear deal reached in 2015 between the Persian nation and six world powers.
"Iran is determined to resolutely continue its activities related to ballistic missiles and space launch vehicles," Ambassador of Iran to the UN Majid Takhte Ravanchi said in a letter to Guterres.
In the meantime, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif denounced the European powers' intervention too.
"Latest E3 letter to UNSG on missiles is a desperate falsehood to cover up their miserable incompetence in fulfilling bare minimum of their own Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action obligations," Zarif tweeted, using the abbreviation "E3" for the three European parties to the nuclear agreement.
Brian Hook has given our E3 #JCPOA partners a timely reminder, openly admitting that missile testing is NOT prohibited in Security Council Resolution 2231:
— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) 6 de diciembre de 2019
"One of the deficiencies of the Iran nuclear deal is that it ENDED the prohibition on Iran's ballistic missile testing." pic.twitter.com/dPGW0OEuzt
The letter surfaced at a time of heightened friction between Iran and the West, with Tehran rolling back its commitments under the deal step by step in response to U.S. President Donald Trump's pullout from the pact last year and the imposition of a "maximum pressure" sanctions campaign against Iran.
"Iran was very clear that they only wanted to concentrate on Iran's nuclear program, and it's one of the reasons why Trump has criticized the deal and one of the reasons he cited for pulling the U.S. out of it. What does address Iran's ballistic program is the United Nations resolution that endorsed that 2015 deal and that's what the Europeans say Iran is in violation of."
The Security Council is due to meet on December 20th to weigh the state of Iran's compliance with the resolution in question.
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