U.S. Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton on Wednesday called for new sanctions against Iran's regime after Tehran brushed off U.S. concerns and test-fired two ballistic missiles that it said were designed to be able to hit Israel, Reuters reported.
The Iranian regime's state television showed footage of two Qadr missiles being launched from northern Iran, which the regime's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) said hit targets 1,400 km (870 miles) away.
State-run media said the missiles were stamped with the Hebrew words, "Israel should be wiped from the pages of history."
Clinton, a former secretary of state under President Barack Obama, said she was "deeply concerned" by the tests, the second round of Iranian missile launches in two days.
"Iran should face sanctions for these activities and the international community must demonstrate that Iran's threats toward Israel will not be tolerated," said Clinton.
Her call for sanctions reflected a tougher line against the Iranian regime's recent missile activity than that taken so far by the White House, which said it is aware of and reviewing reports of the Iranian tests, and would determine an appropriate response.
"We know that Iran is in a season of carrying out a number of military activities, and so it certainly would not be a surprise if there are additional launches over the next several days," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.
The Iranian regime's move on Wednesday came despite warning from the U.S. State Department after Tuesday's missile tests that Washington continues to "aggressively apply our unilateral tools to counter threats from Iran's missile program," a possible reference to additional U.S. sanctions.
Secretary of State John Kerry spoke on Wednesday with the Iranian regime's foreign minister about the test-firing of two ballistic missiles, a State Department spokesman said.
No comments:
Post a Comment