TEHRAN - Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote on his Twitter account on Friday that even Brian Hook has acknowledged that the UN Security Council Resolution 2231 has not banned missile testing by Iran.  

“Brian Hook has given our E3 JCPOA partners a timely reminder, openly admitting that missile testing is not prohibited in the Security Council’s Resolution 2231,” Zarif wrote. 

Hook, who serves as U.S. special representative for Iran and senior policy advisor to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, had announced, “One of the deficiencies of the Iran nuclear deal is that it ended the prohibition on Iran’s ballistic missile testing.”  

Resolution 2231, adopted unanimously by the UN Security Council (UNSC) in July 2015, endorses the nuclear agreement between Iran, the 5+1 group, and the European Union. However, the United States, under Donald Trump, unilaterally withdrew from the agreement in May and ordered sanctions on Iran.

The resolution “calls upon” Iran not to test nuclear-capable missiles; it does not ban Iran to conduct missile tests.

Zarif says, “If E3 want a modicum of global credibility, they can begin by exerting sovereignty rather than bowing to US bullying.” 

In a tweet on November 30, Pompeo claimed that Iran had just test-fired a medium-range missile “that is capable of carrying multiple warheads.”

In an interview with ICANA published on Tuesday, Zarif said Pompeo needs to study the resolution 2231.

In another tweet on Thursday, Zarif said that the three European states' letter to the UN chief on Iran's missiles is an attempt "to cover up their miserable incompetence" to implement the nuclear deal.

"Latest E3 letter to UNSG on missiles is a desperate falsehood to cover up their miserable incompetence in fulfilling bare minimum of their own JCPOA obligations," Zarif added.

Zarif added, “If E3 want a modicum of global credibility, they can begin by exerting sovereignty rather than bowing to US bullying,” Zarif said.

His remarks were in reaction to a letter penned by France, Germany and Britain to the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in which the three European signatories to the JCPOA made the allegation that Iran’s ballistic missile activity is “inconsistent” with the call in a council resolution endorsing the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.

MJ/PA