ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The US State Department on Thursday said that Iran's newly unveiled long-range ballistic missile posed "a serious threat" to international security and claimed Tehran has defied UN Security Council resolutions by testing their missiles and obtaining technology from foreign suppliers.
The Iranian defense ministry on Thursday unveiled a new ballistic missile with capabilities to strike targets 2,000 kilometers away and carry warheads weighing 1,500 kilograms.
"Iran's development and proliferation of ballistic missiles poses a serious threat to regional and international security and remains a significant nonproliferation challenge," State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters.
Unveiling the missile on Thursday, Iranian Defense Minister Mohammed Reza Ashtiani said the weapon was a message to friends of Iran's commitment to preserving regional peace, and a message to its enemies of the Islamic Republic's determination to defend itself.
Tehran has not shied away from using its arsenal of ballistic missiles and suicide drones against different actors in the region.
Last September, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) launched around 73 ballistic missiles and dozens of suicide drones towards bases of Kurdish dissident groups in the Kurdistan Region, killing at least 16 people and injuring 58.
In January 2020, Iran fired ballistic missiles at US forces stationed in Iraq in retaliation for the assassination of Qassem Soleimani.
The State Department spokesperson said Washington continues in its efforts to prevent Tehran from further advancing its ballistic missile program and acquiring a nuclear weapon, which he said could embolden Iran to act "even more provocatively."
Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on Thursday claimed that Tehran and Washington have for weeks exchanged indirect messages on the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal and that "good progress" has been made.
Miller refused to directly comment on the foreign minister's remarks, but said Washington maintains the ability to communicate with Tehran when it is in the best interest of the US.
Since September, the US has repeatedly shut down reports on the possibility of reviving the nuclear accord, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), saying their focus was on the rights and freedoms of the Iranian people amid a brutal crackdown on protesters by the Islamic regime.
