'Iran has been formally put on notice' over missile test: Trump

US President Donald Trump has stepped up rhetoric against Iran, saying the White House has formally put Tehran on notice over its recent ballistic missile test.

Trump wrote on his twitter account on Thursday that Iran should have been “thankful” for what he called the terrible deal the US made with it.

“Iran has been formally PUT ON NOTICE for firing a ballistic missile. Should have been thankful for the terrible deal the U.S. made with them!” Trump wrote, echoing his national security adviser’s comments a day earlier.

In another tweet, Trump called the nuclear accord “a life-line” Washington granted to Tehran.

“Iran was on its last legs and ready to collapse until the U.S. came along and gave it a life-line in the form of the Iran Deal: $150 billion,” Trump claimed, without providing  any evidence that Iran really gained such financial benefits from the nuclear agreement.

Trump may have been referring to Iran’s oil sales worth about $100 billion that were frozen by the US and its allies via illegal sanctions imposed upon the Islamic Republic.

The assets were steadily released following the implementation of the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and the P+1 group of countries.

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Trump's threats came a day after US National Security Advisor Michael Flynn criticized Iran over its missile test.

"We are officially putting Iran on notice,” Flynn said in a statement on Wednesday.

Flynn repeated the US claims that ballistic missile tests violate a UN Security Council resolution that endorsed Iran’s nuclear deal with the world powers, including Washington.

UN Security Council Resolution 2231 calls on Iran "not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using such ballistic missile technology."

Iran’s defensive ballistic missile program has been a bone of contention with the West. Tehran says its missile tests do not breach UN resolutions because they are solely for defense purposes and not designed to carry nuclear warheads.

Arms control experts have also said that Iran’s missile tests are not banned under the nuclear agreement and the Security Council resolution, because Iran's missiles are not meant to deliver nuclear warheads.

A spokesman for the EU foreign policy chief has also confirmed that Iran's ballistic missile program is defensive in nature and does not violate the nuclear deal.

Resolution 2231 was adopted in July 2015 to endorse a nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries, also including the UK, Russia, Germany, China and France.

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