Ever since the Nazis first deployed ballistic missiles in World War II, the world has been rightly concerned about the threat the weapons pose to world security.

Now, some 70 years later those missiles can travel long distances in a short time, leave the earth’s atmosphere and deliver nuclear or chemical payloads without being detected, which would cause untold destruction. This is why people remain concerned about these weapons being in the hand of rogue regimes, like Iran and North Korea, who orchestrate missile tests on a regular basis.

While some have chalked these tests up to propaganda and posturing, it is still a serious threat to the global community; especially considering that the two dictatorships are working together on their nuclear weapons research.

Going Nuclear

The 2015 nuclear deal, which was supposed to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons for around ten years, failed to include a provision on ballistic missiles.

This is crucially important as ballistic missiles are the only delivery system for launching nuclear strikes with impunity.

Though the UN resolution surrounding the deal does implore Iran not to test ballistic missiles, many believe that is not good enough, especially as the nuclear deal provided a great deal of money to Iran which they spent almost entirely on their warmongering, including the development of ballistic missiles.

Laura Carnahan wrote on Iran Lobby: The results have been disastrous since it essentially gave them a free pass to develop a missile capability that prior to the nuclear deal was nascent at best… It is not coincidental that after the nuclear deal the world soon saw larger and more powerful missiles launch from sites throughout Iran in displays that the mullahs were not shy about using as threats against their Sunni neighbours such as Saudi Arabia, as well as to the US.”

The US response

Following Trump’s decertification of the Iranian Regime’s compliance with the nuclear deal last month, Congress must now decide how to counter the Iranian missile threat.

The US House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to impose new sanctions on Iran’s ballistic missile programme and foreign entities that support it. They also agreed to impose sanctions on Iranian-backed terror groups like Hezbollah.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani responded by saying that these sanctions would have no impact on the Regime’s use of ballistic missiles, which was to be expected. The Regime has a habit of pretending that the actions of the US have no impact on their policy.

Ultimately the US will see that the problems of both Iran’s ballistic and nuclear missile programmes will have to be dealt with as one entity. That is the only way to tackle Iran’s dangerous threats to global security.

Source » ncr-iran