Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urged the United Nations Security Council to take action against Iran for reckless ballistic missile activities that he says threaten people across the Middle East and Europe.
He called upon the Security Council on December 12 to stop Iran from testing ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear weapons.
“Iran has exploited the goodwill of nations and defied multiple Security Council resolutions in its quest for a robust ballistic missile force. The United States will never stand for this,” the secretary of state said.
He said the United States has hard evidence that Iran has exported missile systems to the Houthi rebels in Yemen and is also transferring ballistic missile systems to Shia militias in Iraq.
Afterwards, Pompeo told reporters, “Iran has been on a testing spree and a proliferation spree, and this must come to an end.”
The United States pulled out of the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal and reimposed economic sanctions over what it called Iran’s malign behavior in the Middle East and beyond.
The Security Council strictly banned nuclear-capable Iranian missiles from 2010 to 2015, but after the deal it softened the ban with a resolution that “calls upon” Tehran not to test any ballistic missiles that could carry nuclear warheads.
“It’s time for this Security Council to get serious about this real risk from proliferation from the Iranian regime,” Pompeo said.
