Trump Expected To Declare Iran In Breach Of Nuclear Deal

In the months leading up to the November 2016 election, Trump repeatedly referred to Obama"s secretive Iran Nuclear deal as "the worst deal I"ve ever seen negotiated" (here"s just one example).  Of course, for a man who only speaks in absolutes, it"s difficult to know what that meant for the fate of the deal but it didn"t sound positive, nonetheless.

Now, according to the Washington Free Beacon, Trump, over the objections of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Defense James Mattis, could declare Iran in breach of Obama"s deal as early as next week and set the stage for Congress to once again impose stiff sanctions on the Islamic Republic. 

The Trump administration is expected to announce next week that it will not formally certify Iran as in compliance with the landmark nuclear agreement, a move that could kill the agreement and set the stage for Congress to reimpose harsh economic sanctions on the Islamic Republic, according to multiple U.S. officials and sources familiar with the situation.

While some senior Trump administration officials—including Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Defense James Mattis—are pushing for President Donald Trump to preserve the deal, it has become increasingly clear the president is frustrated with Iran"s continued tests of ballistic missile technology and rogue operations targeting U.S. forces in the region, according to these sources.

Designating Iran as in non-compliance with the deal would loosen restrictions on how the United States can target Tehran and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC, which has been the main entity behind Iran"s military operations in Syria and elsewhere in the region. It also would allow the administration to save face in the short-term by not technically walking away from the agreement.

The final nail in the coffin, these sources said, was the recent admission by the International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA, that it cannot fully assess whether Iran is working on sensitive nuclear explosive technology due to restrictions on inspections and specific sites in the Islamic Republic.

Still, according to the Financial Times, the increasing rhetoric from the White House could be nothing more than an effort to "minimize political embarrassment" while ultimately "maintaining the deal."

Western officials say Mr Trump is frustrated by rules that require him to certify an agreement he framed as the “worst deal ever” every 90 days, in keeping with a 2015 law giving Congress oversight of the agreement.

“He is looking for options that minimise the domestic political embarrassment of ultimately maintaining the deal,” said a western official.

Of course, Tillerson and Mattis are not alone in their opposition to withdrawing from the controversial deal as several other military and intelligence experts argue that some oversight is preferable to none at all.

Retired four-star Gen. Michael Hayden, former head of the National Security Agency, told the Free Beacon that there are always challenges to ensuring Iranian compliance. However, some level of inspections is better than none at all.

"Confirming compliance is always challenging," Hayden said, echoing the thinking of many current and former U.S. officials. "That"s why the intelligence folks always insist on an invasive monitoring regime. That combined with national capabilities should give you reasonable confidence."

"The chairman of the Joint Chiefs said yesterday that Iran was not in material breach of the deal," Hayden noted. "That looks to be true and I would expect the intelligence community to be able to detect significant breaches."

The chief challenge is ensuring Iran is not cheating on the deal by engaging in illicit research activities or other types of nuclear work that are less easy to detect, according to Hayden.

"Cheating around the edges would be a different matter," he said. "Of course, all this would be harder to do if the deal collapsed and the international inspectors were no longer able to perform even their current tasks."

Meanwhile, Senator Ted Cruz, a long-time, vocal opponent of the deal, maintains that Trump has no option but to decertify Iran and allow Congress to enact harsh penalties because of the IAEA"s admission that Iran continues to refuse them access to various military facilities - a clear requirement of the terms of the deal."

"The IAEA"s admission that they are unable to verify a fundamental provision under the nuclear deal—that the Iranians are not engaging in activities or using equipment to develop a nuclear explosive device—is highly alarming. In these circumstances, issuing a compliance certification would be serious mistake," Cruz said.

"If the Iranians are serious about a peaceful program, they need to prove it. Iran"s continued refusal to allow IAEA access to military sites—a clear requirement of the terms of the deal—renders the JCPOA utterly ineffective, and, even worse, a sham that only facilitates Iran"s acquiring nuclear weapons," Cruz said. "This absence of any meaningful verification is yet another reason to vitiate this foolhardy agreement."

Other administration insiders who spoke to the Free Beacon said the president no longer wants to pretend the deal is working.

"The president already knew that continued sanctions relief to Iran was inappropriate and not in our interest given their behavior, which was more than enough to decertify. He said so repeatedly," said one veteran Iran analyst close to the White House and privy to discussions about the matter. "Now there"s this new issue where the IAEA just admitted publicly they"ve been unable to verify entire sections of the deal, which makes the whole thing a no-brainer."

"Decertifying clears a lot of clutter off the table because our guys no longer have to pretend the deal is a good deal," the source said. "They can let it stay in place for a while or try to fix it, all while focusing on the rest of Iran"s aggression."

So what say you...is some oversight better than none at all or is Trump right that the United States is just getting outwitted by a cunning adversary.

"Fake Nukes": Iran Faked Ballistic Missile Launch

On Saturday, when a defiant Iran allegedly confirmed the existence a brand new ballistic missile it has unveiled just hours earlier at a military parade in Tehran, we reported that Iranian state television released video footage Friday claiming to show the launch of a new type of medium-range ballistic missile.

But it turns out this was "fake news", or rather "fake nukes", as Iran never actually fired a ballistic missile, according to Fox News government sources, and instead the video released by the Iranians was more than seven months old – dating back to a failed launch in late January, which resulted in the missile exploding shortly after liftoff, according to two U.S. officials.

After the footage was aired, Iranian media claiming a successful test launch – though it apparently showed the failed January launch. At the time, Iran was attempting to launch its new Khorramshahr medium-range ballistic missile for the first time. It flew 600 miles before exploding, in a failed test of a reentry vehicle, officials said at the time. The failed late January launch was first reported by Fox News and prompted the White House to put Iran “on notice” days later.

However, apparently news of the fake launch was not filtered by the US "intelligence" apparatus before it reached Trump who responded to the reported launch in a late-Saturday tweet, saying, “Iran just test-fired a Ballistic Missile capable of reaching Israel. They are also working with North Korea. Not much of an agreement we have!” Last week, speaking before world leaders at the United Nations, Trump slammed the Iranian regime and called the Iran nuclear deal an “embarrassment” to the United States. 

“We cannot let a murderous regime continue these destabilizing activities while building dangerous missiles, and we cannot abide by an agreement if it provides cover for the eventual construction of a nuclear program,” he said. As reported previously, Trump later told reporters he had made up his mind about the deal, but he has yet to explain if that means the United States will be pulled out of the nuclear accord.

Meanwhile, Iran"s President Hassan Rouhani, speaking at the U.N. one day after Trump, claimed his country’s missile program was “solely defensive” in nature.  “We never threaten anyone, but we do not tolerate threats from anyone,” he said. Rohani returned to Tehran two days later to preside over the missile parade featuring the new medium-range design and said his country would build as many missiles as necessary to defend itself. 

Ironically, Iran’s new medium-range missile is based on a North Korean design—Pyongyang’s BM-25 Musudan ballistic missile, which has a maximum range of nearly 2,500 miles, putting U.S. forces in the Middle East and Israel within reach... assuming its problems have been fixed of course.

“The very first missiles we saw in Iran were simply copies of North Korean missiles,” missile proliferation expert at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies Jeffrey Lewis, told Fos News. “Over the years, we"ve seen photographs of North Korean and Iranian officials in each other"s countries, and we"ve seen all kinds of common hardware.” 

A senior Iranian general said last weekend that the missile had a range of less than 2,000 miles. "The Khoramshahr missile has a range of 2,000 kilometers [1,250 miles] and can carry multiple warheads," Iran’s official IRNA news agency quoted Revolutionary Guards aerospace chief General Amir Ali Hajizadeh as saying.

The missile “is capable of carrying multiple warheads,” Hajizadeh added.

“I am not sure why the Iranians are lying about the range,” one U.S. official said. “I think they don’t want to piss the Europeans off.”

While U.N. resolution 2231, put in place days after the Iran nuclear deal was signed, calls on the Islamic Republic not to conduct ballistic missile tests, but does not forbid them from doing so, after Russia and China insisted on the watered-down language in order to pass the resolution. Iran is "called upon not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using such ballistic missile technology," according to the text of the resolution.

Iran possesses the largest arsenal of ballistic missiles in the Middle East, with more than 1,000 short- and medium-range ballistic missiles. Tehran has conducted over 20 missile tests since 2015. Tehran claims the tests are legitimate because they are defensive in nature. 

Clipping Iran's Wings - Winners & Losers From Congress' New Sanctions

Authored by James Durso via RealClearDefense.com,

Iran’s aviation sector will spend much more time taxiing before takeoff if the Countering Iran’s Destabilizing Activities Act Of 2017 becomes law. The bill enjoys bipartisan support in the U.S. Senate, and the House of Representatives is considering a companion bill, the Iran Ballistic Missiles and International Sanctions Enforcement Act, which also enjoys bipartisan support. 

The Senate bill has three primary provisions: (1) Imposing mandatory sanctions on persons involved with Iran’s ballistic missile program; (2) Applies terrorism sanctions to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC); Requires the President to block the property of any person or entity involved in specific activities related to the supply, sale, or transfer of prohibited arms and related material to or from Iran.  The House bill primarily focuses on throttling the supply chain that supports Iran’s ballistic missile program. 

The Senate and House bills have the support of Iran-wary groups, such as The American Israel Public Affairs Committee  and the Foundation for Defense of Democracies who feel the bills do not violate the letter or spirit of the “nuclear deal,” the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), as they do not target Iran’s nuclear program.  In his Senate testimony in support of the JCPOA, then-Secretary of State John Kerry stated: “We’re not going to come back and just slap [sanctions] on again, but that absolutely does not mean that we are precluded from sanctioning Iranian actors, sectors, as any actions or circumstances warrant.”  The bills face opposition by JCPOA supporters, such as the National Iranian American Council, and the Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans who feel additional sanctions for any reason will derail the JCPOA. (Sanctions levied by the U.S., the European Union, and the United Nations are usually for the proliferation of nuclear weapons or ballistic missile technology, support of terrorism, or egregious human rights violations.)

In March 2016, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Iranian airline Mahan Air for supporting Iran’s ballistic missile program.  Making Mahan Air a two-time loser, as it was sanctioned in 2011 “for providing financial, material, and technological support” to the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).  Iran Air was also sanctioned in 2011, primarily for transporting goods prohibited under United Nations Security Council Resolution 1803, which required Iran to “cease and desist from any and all uranium enrichment,” and any research and development associated with centrifuges and uranium enrichment. The Iran Air sanctions were lifted to secure Iran’s assent to the JCPOA, but Iran Air and Mahan Air have been active in supporting the Assad regime in Syria, leaving Iran Air vulnerable to non-nuclear-related sanctions in the future.

Iran has no strategic airlift capability, so it has pressed into service its private and state-owned air carriers, Iran Air, Mahan Air, and Yas Air (formerly Pars Air; sanctioned by the UN, the EU, and the U.S.). These carriers make up Iran’s airbridge to Syria and its allies, the Bashar Assad regime, and Lebanese Hezbollah, a creature of the IRGC.  The Mahan Air fleet and the Iran Air fleet are mostly Airbus airframes; Yas Air’s fleet is mostly Russian aircraft

In February 2016, Iran Air agreed to purchase 118 Airbus commercial aircraft worth an estimated $27 billion.  In July 2016, Iran Air and Boeing agreed to the sale of 80, and leasing of 29, passenger aircraft worth an estimated $16 billion, with the first deliveries scheduled for 2018.

Congressional opponents of Iran want to cancel Boeing’s agreement with Iran, but it will be more practical to allow the executive branch sanction the buyer, Iran Air, which will be possible under the Iran Terror-Free Skies Act of 2017.  Thus, Boeing can declare force majeure to avoid contract penalties, and Members of Congress can avoid the bad optics of voting against a large export contract and all those jobs.

How can the U.S. ensure Iran Air is eliminated as a tool of Iran’s apparat of subversion in Syria?

• When Iran Air flights make their next appearance in the Syrian theatre of operations in support of the Assad regime or Hezbollah, the U.S. sanctions the airline under the authority of Executive Order 13572, Blocking Property of Certain Persons With Respect to Human Rights Abuses in Syria Or, if the IRGC is designated a terrorist organization, apply sanctions to Iran Air as a confederate of the IRGC. The U.S. may prefer to wait until it has achieved its goals vis-à-vis the Islamic State before acting.


• Boeing regretfully suspends its dealings with Iran Air.


• Because the U.S. is concerned about the safety of civil aviation, it reminds interested parties that it did issue a license for the inspection and repair of Iran’s civilian aircraft “so long as those services were performed outside Iran so the parts and services could not be misdirected to Iran’s military aircraft.” Iran refused to take advantage of the license, but it will be useful to remind Iran and its surrogates of this when they wave the bloody shirt when tragedy strikes, which is likely given Iran’s poor aviation safety record.


• The U.S. refuses export licenses for U.S-made components bound for Airbus aircraft to be sold to Iran Air.


• If Airbus decides to install substitute components, the U.S. places the type certificates for those models, the narrow-body A320, the long-haul A321, and the long-range A350, under review. (The “type certificate” is issued by a regulating body, such as the American Federal Aviation Administration or the European Aviation Safety Agency, to signify the airworthiness of an aircraft manufacturing design or "type." Once the certificate is issued the design cannot be changed, at least not without significant time and expense.)


• Once the type certificates are under review, the U.S. approaches the countries that are Iran Air destinations and requests that, due to the now-nonconforming aircraft configurations, the countries withdraw landing privileges for those aircraft. A similar approach will be made to countries along those routes with the request that they deny flight permits to those Iran Air aircraft until the type certificate review is completed  (A “flight permit” is the “permission required by an aircraft to overfly, land, or make a technical stop [a stop for refueling or essential repairs] in any country"s airspace.”


• If the Airbus and Boeing options are off the table, Iran Air may have to turn to Russia and China for aircraft. The U.S. does not have much leverage here, but China and Russia will be dealing with a desperate buyer and will act accordingly.  Russia and China are wise enough to know dealing with a terrorist-designated IRGC is what’s commonly known as a “bad idea” and will pile on restrictions regarding the use of the aircraft to give them an excuse when the aircraft turn up in Syria. However, by then they will have been paid.


• The clandestine sellers of parts for Iran’s remaining U.S.-origin aircraft will price their wares accordingly.

Other considerations

• Boeing will have to be made whole, as the sale has been factored into its stock price, but President Trump’s suggested “big order” of stealthy F/A-18 Super Hornets may do nicely, thank you. Utilization of the Export- Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) would greatly aid in the facilitation of the sale, and perhaps resuscitating the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC). 


• The U.S. should re-issue the license for inspection and repair of Iran’s Boeing aircraft at a location outside Iran. America will do this for its own satisfaction as Iran will ignore the offer as it did before.  


• Iran Air will be unable to compete with the rival carriers from Gulf countries, which the U.S. can trade for something, maybe in the dispute between U.S. and Gulf airlines over government subsidies.

The winners and losers

• Winners: Syrian citizens on the receiving end of Iranian guns; Israel, which will get a breather if Hezbollah is hobbled; Lebanese citizens, who will get a breather if Hezbollah is hobbled; Boeing


• Losers: Airbus; any IRGC smuggling scheme that is using the flights to and from Syria; Iranian citizens, who will lose the chance to travel safely from their prison republic.

North Korea Fires Ballistic Missile Into East Sea As US Warns "Clock Has Run Out"

Update: Sec. of State Rex Tillerson has issued the following fascinatingly brief statement:

• “North Korea launched yet another intermediate range ballistic missile. The United States has spoken enough about North Korea. We have no further comment.”

* * *

Picking the worst possible time (or perhaps having it picked for it) to demonstratively launch a rocket, just as Trump and Xi are set to discuss the North Korea nuclear threat, with the US president reportedly prepared to announce that "“If China Is Not Going To Solve North Korea, We Will" and take unilateral action to eliminate any potential threats coming out of North Korea"s regime, moments ago South Korea"s Yonhap reported that North Korea on morning Wednesday fired a projectile suspected to be a ballistic missile toward the East Sea, military officials said.

The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff announced, "North Korea fired an unidentified projectile in Sinpo, South Hamgyong Province, into the East Sea."

The launch was from Sinpo, a port city on the North"s east coast, and the missile flew about 60 km (40 miles), South Korea"s Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a short statement. Sinpo is the site of a North Korean submarine base.

Any launch of objects using the ballistic missile technology is a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions but the North has defied the ban as infringement of its sovereign rights to self defense and pursuit of space exploration, Reuters adds. North Korea attempted to launch a ballistic missile two weeks ago from its east coast and earlier in March fired four missiles toward Japan, some of which came as close as 300 km (190 miles) to Japan"s coast.

The North is believed to be developing an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that can hit the United States and its leader, Kim Jong Un, has vowed to test-launch one at any time. Experts and officials in the South and the United States believe Pyongyang is still some time away from mastering all the technology needed for an operational ICBM system, such as re-entry of the atmosphere and subsequent missile guidance.

Indicatively, topping the agenda of the U.S.-China summit in Florida will be whether Trump will make good on his threat to use crucial trade ties with China to pressure Beijing to do more to rein in the nuclear-armed North.

And while await to see if there will be an immediate retaliation by the US - recall "US Delta Force, SEAL Team 6 Prepare To Take Out Kim Jong-Un, Practice Tactical North Korea "Infiltration" - it is worth noting that just minutes earlier on Tuesday, a White House official said that the clock for resolving the North Korean nuclear issue "has now run out," and the United States is looking at "all options on the table" to deal with the problem, according to Reuters.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to preview the upcoming summit between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, also said that how to deal with North Korea is a "test of the relationship" between the U.S. and China.

"We would like to work on North Korea together. There is an opportunity," the official said during a conference call briefing. "We"ve been ... trying pretty much everything to bring about a safe and denuclearized peninsula. So this is some ways a test of the relationship." The official stressed the urgency of the problem, saying, "The clock is very, very quickly running out.

"We would have loved to see North Korea join the community of nations. They"ve been given that opportunity over the course of different dialogues and offers over the course of four administrations with some of our best diplomats and statesmen doing the best they could to bring about a resolution," the official said.

Needless to say, random gratuitous ballistic missile launches will not help, and if anything, may prompt the US to retaliate now that both Trump and Tillerson have said any provocation by North Korea will be met with a response.

On Sunday, Trump said in an interview with the Financial Times that China should help with the North Korea problem by using the "great influence" it has over Pyongyang, warning that if it doesn"t, the U.S. will solve the problem on its own, and that won"t be good for anyone. Trump also said he will use trade as an incentive for China to take action on the North.

On Tuesday, Trump said the North is a "humanity problem," and he will talk about the issue with China"s Xi.

"North Korea clearly is a matter of urgent interest for the president and the administration as a whole. I think the president has been pretty clear in messaging how important it is for China to coordinate with the U.S. and for China to begin exerting its considerable economic leverage to bring about a peaceful resolution to that problem," the White House official said.

"Certainly, it is going to come up in their discussions. Somewhere in the order of just shy of 90 percent of North Korea"s external trade is with China. Even though we hear sometimes that China"s political influence may have diminished, with North Korea, clearly its economic leverage has not. It is considerable and so that will be one of the points of discussion," he said.

The Trump-Xi meetings will also be watched closely as to whether the U.S. stands up to China for bullying South Korea for hosting the U.S. THAAD missile defense system designed to defend better against ever-growing missile threats from North Korea.

The White House official said that the deployment will go ahead as planned.

"We are familiar with China"s objections to THAAD. The United States will always act to defend our allies and to defend our homeland against any threat, particularly one of the nature of the North Korean regime with the kinds of terrible weapons that they"re developing. There will be no move away from protecting our South Korean allies and the United States," he said. The official also said that China"s retaliation against the South is "disturbing."

"South Korea is a responsible, friendly, economically dynamic democracy that is seeking together with its ally, the United States, to put in place defensive systems. It doesn"t make much sense and at some levels even is disturbing to be punishing South Korea for wanting to do that," the official said.

"If THAAD is a problem to other countries in the region, they need to look to North Korea," he said.

It is unclear if today"s launch provoked Seoul to respond with a THAAD response, one that will be frowned upon be Beijing and other countries in the region.

North Korea Launches Ballistic Missile, Tests Trump

With the news cycle clearly far less interested in Trump"s golf game or Abe"s handicap, just before 8am local time (6pm ET), North Korea decided to provide CNN with some "exciting" news when it fired a ballistic missile into the sea off its east coast, South Korea"s military said, in what was the latest test of Trump"s resolve to retaliate to North Korean provocations.

This was the first missile launch by North Korea since Donald Trump - who has repeatedly threatened of taking retaliatory measures against such an act - took office. The launch also comes just one day after the US Air Force test-fired a Minuteman ICBM from California.

Cited by Reuters, a US official said that while the U.S. military had detected the missile launch and was assessing it, it was probably not an intercontinental ballistic missile.

The missile was launched from an area named Panghyon in North Korea"s western region and flew about 500 kilometers (300 miles) before falling into the sea, the South"s Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in statements. "Our assessment is that it is part of a show of force in response to the new U.S. administration"s hardline position against the North," the office said.

#ROK military says #DPRK missile flew about 500km and fell into sea.

— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) February 12, 2017

The South"s military said Seoul and Washington were analyzing the details of the launch. Yonhap News Agency said the South Korean military is assessing the launch to confirm whether it was a Musudan intermediate-range ballistic missile, which has a designed flight range of 3,000 kilometers (1,800 miles). The U.S. military also said it had detected a missile test launch by the North and was assessing it, according to a U.S. defense official in Washington.

Japan"s government said it had asked the UN to issue “a strong message” against North Korea for the latest provocation.

Japan gov’t says it’s asking #UN to issue “a strong message” against #DPRK for latest provocation.

— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) February 12, 2017

The North tried to launch a Musudan eight times last year during the Obama presidency, but most attempts failed. One launch that sent a missile 400 km (250 miles), more than half the distance to Japan, was considered a success by officials and experts in the South and the United States.

Sunday"s launch comes a day after Trump held a summit meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and said he agreed to work to ensure strong defense against North Korea"s threat. South Korea"s presidential Blue House said a National Security Council meeting was called and chaired by President Park Geun-hye"s top national security advisor.

One month ago, during his New Year speech, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said that the country was close to test-launching an intercontinental ballistic missile and state media said such a launch could come at any time, leading Trump to write on Twitter, “It won’t happen!” Trump did not give specifics of how he’d stop Kim’s missile development.

He may have to now.

At the time, Kim"s comments prompted a vow of an "overwhelming" response from U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis. North Korea conducted two nuclear tests and a number of missile-related tests at an unprecedented rate since early last year and was seen by experts and officials to be making progress in its weapons capabilities.

If indeed today"s launch is a "show of force" in response to the US hardline position, the entire world will be closely watching to see if Trump is about to fold again as he did on Friday, when he was called a "paper tiger" by China"s media after reversing his position on the "One China" policy, and agreeing that he would not challenge China"s legacy status with Taiwan.

According to the press, the White House - and president Trump at Mar-A-Lago - has been briefed on the launch.

-@WhiteHouse officials say @POTUS has been briefed on #DPRK missile launch.

— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) February 12, 2017

We expect either a very angry tweet in response shortly, or a mushroom cloud to emerge in the middle of Pyongyang any minute.

Did Iran Just Break Nuclear Deal (Again) With Ballistic Missile Test-Launch?

The Islamic Republic of Iran conducted a nuclear ballistic missile test on Sunday, US officials told Fox News. This would appear to be yet another apparent violation of a United Nations resolution and President Obama"s much-heralded nuclear deal.

As Fox reports, the launch occurred at a well-known test site outside Semnan, about 140 miles east of Tehran.

The missile was a Khorramshahr medium range ballistic missile and traveled 600 miles before exploding, in a failed test of a reentry vehicle, officials said.

U.N. resolution 2231 -- put in place days after the Iran nuclear deal was signed -- calls on the Islamic Republic not to conduct such tests, however, this is at least Iran"s second such test since July. The resolution bars Iran from conducting ballistic missile tests for eight years and went into effect July 20, 2015.

Iran is "called upon not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using such ballistic missile technology," according to the text of the resolution.

The landmark nuclear deal between Iran and world powers does not include provisions preventing Iran from conducting ballistic missile tests.

Iran claims its ballistic missile tests are legitimate because they are not designed to carry a nuclear warhead.

Here"s how Gen Matthis would handle the threat of Iran...

Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com