French Foreign Minister Warns Iran Violating Limits on Ballistic Missiles

Pictured Above: French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian. Credit: France Diplomatie.

(January 23, 2018 / JNS) French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian warned Monday that Iran is not respecting international calls to freeze its ballistic missile development program.

Le Drian called on the Islamic Republic to halt the development of all ballistic missiles capable of carrying a nuclear payload.

“We will also have the opportunity of underlining our firmness on Iran’s compliance with United Nations Resolution 2231, which limits access to ballistic capacity and which Iran does not respect,” Le Drian said during a meeting of 28 European foreign ministers in Brussels.

The French foreign minister’s comments came after United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres warned in mid-December that Iran is defying the U.N.’s calls to halt its development of ballistic missiles.

In a report issued by Guterres to the U.N. Security Council, the U.N. chief detailed the world body’s investigation of Iran’s illicit weapons transfers to Houthi terror groups in Yemen. The Houthis launched Iranian-supplied missiles at Saudi Arabia on July 22 and Nov. 4, 2017.

Security Council members France, Germany, the U.K. and the U.S. sent a letter to Guterres warning that Iran’s Simorgh Space Launch Vehicle, launched July 27, could be configured as a ballistic missile “capable of delivering nuclear weapons.”

Last September, Israel condemned an Iranian ballistic missile test as a “provocation” amid growing concerns over the Islamic Republic’s behavior. Iran said the new ballistic missile launched in that test successfully achieved a range of 1,200 miles and could carry several warheads.