US ‘testing waters’ with new Iran sanctions: Analyst

Iran’s ballistic-missile testing is not a violation of the July 14 nuclear agreement with P5+1, and the United Sates is using the issue as a pretext to “soften” the terms of the accord, says a political activist in Virginia.

“What is happening is that the United States is using Iran’s recent missile-testing operation as a means of trying to soften the nuclear deal,” Keith Preston, chief editor and director of AttacktheSystem.com, said on Wednesday.

“It seems that the Obama administration is testing the waters a bit. It seems that they are trying to determine to what degree… they can shift the terms of the deal more in the favor of the United States,” he told Press TV.  

The US State Department said on Tuesday that it was conferring with other US agencies about imposing sanctions on Tehran over an October 11 ballistic missile test.

"We are fully prepared to use sanctions with respect to this most recent ballistic missile test (and) are still working through some technical issues there," spokesman John Kirby said, according to Reuters.

The West claims that the missile test was in violation of a UN Security Council resolution that bans Iran from developing missiles “designed to carry nuclear warheads.”

Iranian officials say none of the country’s missiles, including ballistic ones, have been “designed to carry nuclear warheads,” and thus their production and test are not in contravention of any UN resolution.

Preston noted that the United Nations is essentially a “front organization for the Western imperial powers” to “manage world affairs.”

“The United States has frequently played an obstructionist role in the United Nations when it felt it was in its own interest. One primary example of that is that the United States has repeatedly blocked UN resolutions calling for Israel to end its oppression of the Palestinians,” he noted.

“The idea that the United States cares one iota about resolutions that have been issued by the United Nations is ridiculous,” he stressed.

Preston said that it is “perfectly reasonable that Iran would be testing long-range missiles and that Iran would be trying to build up its defense forces.”

“Many of [Iran’s] surrounding nations in the region have been under attack in recent years from external forces,” he explained.

He cited the US invasion and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan, the Western “destabilization program” in Syria, and the constant saber-rattling by the US and Israel against Iran as some of the security challenges the Islamic Republic is facing in the region.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk