Remarks made recently by a senior military advisor of Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei sheds light on how Tehran continues to violate a United Nations Security Council resolution banning such measures for Iran.
“His excellency (Khamenei) approved the ‘Emad’ missile launching. No rockets are fired in this country without the commander-in-chief’s approval. Permission from [Khamenei] is needed even for missiles launched in military drills,… he also determines the launching time,” said Major General Hassan Firouzabadi in an interview with state-run Tasnim news agency, affiliated to the Revolutionary Guards Quds Force. Firouzabadi was Iran’s chief of staff up to this summer.
The Emad missile, launched previously on 11 October 2015, is capable of delivering a nuclear payload. Its launch was a blatant violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2231, passed just 50 days prior to that. The resolution demands Iran “not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using such ballistic missile technology.”
Iran enjoyed a green light under the appeasement policy of U.S. President Barack Obama, continuing to breach numerous U.N. Security Council resolutions.
On 21 November 2015, Iran also launched the “Ghadr” missile in its southern soil. Yet another missile, dubbed “Ghadr-F”, enjoys a range of 2,000 km, while the “Ghadr-H” has a range of 1,700 km. The latter was launched on 8 March 2016. The Emad and Ghadr series of missiles have inherited their technology from the “Shahab-3” missile family, itself based on North Korea’s Nodong 1 missile. All these missiles are capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
The International Atomic Energy Agency reported back in November 2011 accusing Iran of focusing its military-nuclear activities on gaining the ability to mount nuclear warheads on its Shahab-3 missile.
It goes beyond doubt that Tehran has violated UNSC Resolution 2231 on four different counts in the mere 16 months after its adoption. Senior military officials in Iran have openly confirmed the launch of these missiles came only after a green light from Khamenei’s direct orders, who also determined the exact launch dates and timings.
The question is what has held the international community back on taking serious action against such a rogue regime? Is it other than the failed engagement policy adopted by the Obama administration? Hasn’t this emboldened Iran to continue its missile program ambitions?
As a result, Tehran has expanded its efforts by sending lethal missiles to Syria and also launching a missile-production factory in the Levant. Tehran could literally care less about the UNSC resolution in this regard.
“Syria reached the point where Iran launched its missile production industry and missiles in Aleppo in recent years,” said Major General Mohammad Bagheri, chief of Iran’s armed forces on November 11th. A mere four days later, Brigadier Genearl Amir Ali Hajizadeh, chief of the IRGC aerospace force, revealed how the IRGC missile factory in Aleppo had been completely leveled through the course of the war.
The regime in Iran continues to endanger any hope of peace and tranquility in the already flashpoint region known as the Middle East, all through its warmongering and crisis-provoking policies.
Iran has enjoyed the leverage provided by the Obama administration, and is set to take full advantage of this incompetency. This status quo must begin to shift with a new administration under Donald Trump and the Republican Party taking the helm at the White House. The regime in Iran is already terrified.
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