US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called for tougher international restrictions on Iran following its latest missile launch.

“We must restore tougher international restrictions to deter Iran’s missile program,” Pompeo said via Twitter.

Iran appears to have attempted a satellite launch as part of its space program, according to satellite images released on Thursday.

“We continue to call upon the Iranian regime to cease immediately all activities that are inconsistent with the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2231, including space vehicle launches,” State Department spokesman Robert Palladino said on Thursday.

The EU had said it was gravely concerned by Iran’s ballistic missile tests and called on it to stop such activity.

Earlier this month, Iran’s deputy chief had warned Europe not to force Iran to boost its range of missiles.

“If the Europeans, or anyone else, want to conspire to disarm Iran of missiles, we will be forced to make a strategic leap,” the guards’ deputy commander Brigadier-General Hossein Salami said on Iranian state TV.

Iran’s foreign ministry said the country’s missile program was “defensive and deterrent” and that they would never negotiate over it with other countries

Source » alarabiya