Iran Warns U.S. Not to Escalate Missile Dispute

Iranian foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, right,

Already furious over the Trump administration’s visa ban, Iran warned the United States on Tuesday not to escalate tensions over tests of Iranian missiles.

The warning, made by Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, came a day after American and Israeli officials accused Iran of having conducted a missile test that they said had violated a United Nations Security Council resolution. The United States requested an urgent meeting of the Council for later Tuesday to discuss the issue.

Iran has not confirmed that it conducted a test. But Mr. Zarif, at a joint news conference in Tehran with his visiting counterpart from France, Jean-Marc Ayrault, said he hoped that the new American administration would not use Iran’s military defenses “as a pretext to create new tensions.”

When the nuclear deal with Iran was reached in 2015 with major powers including the United States, sanctions on Iran were relaxed in exchange for its pledges of peaceful nuclear work. A Security Council resolution “called upon” the country not to undertake any tests of missiles designed to be capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

Iran contends that it has not violated the resolution and that its missiles are not designed to carry nuclear warheads.

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