U.N. Experts Say Iran Missile Firing Violated Sanctions Report says Iran is focusing on improving accuracy By Farnaz Fassihi and Laurence Norman
http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-n-experts-say-iran-missile-firing-violated-sanctions-1450210189
Iran violated a United Nations Security Council resolution by testing a new ballistic missile in October, a panel of experts found in a confidential report, increasing pressure on the Obama administration as it moves to implement a separate international nuclear deal with Tehran.
U.S. officials asked the Security Council on Tuesday to address the Oct. 10 test and a second launch on Nov. 21 of a ballistic missile capable of delivering atomic weapons. The council, however, adjourned without taking action.
The developments are part of a complicated welter of sanctions on Iran from the U.N. and individual countries over its ballistic missile and nuclear programs. The U.S. and five world powers struck a deal with Iran to lift economic sanctions on Tehran in exchange for limits on its nuclear program, which Iran has always maintained is peaceful.
But the missile tests raise fears about the intentions of regime hard-liners, including Iran’s paramount political figure, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, once the constraints of the economic sanctions are lifted. Critics of the agreement said it added up to a situation that allowed Iran to misbehave with impunity.
The Obama administration is facing a two-way test: It wants to implement the agreement as a cornerstone of President Barack Obama’s foreign policy, but also must deliver on pledges to maintain a tough stance against Iran’s efforts to promote a Middle East agenda frequently at odds with U.S. interests.
ENLARGE The developments at the U.N. came on the same day diplomats in Vienna unanimously decided to close an investigation into Iran’s past nuclear-weapons programs.
Despite indications that Tehran stymied or attempted to mislead investigators during a five-month probe—the latest in a decade of efforts—the U.N. nuclear watchdog said it found no evidence Iran’s nuclear-weapons activities continued beyond 2009.
With the investigation closed, Iran moves one step closer to having most sanctions removed early next year.
“I fear the Iranians are taking action after action in this area and others to demonstrate that they are willing to flout international rules, regulations and restrictions, and in the absence of our decisive action, these misdeeds by the Iranians will simply continue and escalate,” said Sen. Chris Coons (D., Del.) on the Senate floor.
Mr. Coons and other U.S. lawmakers said that if the U.N. doesn’t retaliate with punishment as allowed by Security Council resolutions still in force, then the U.S. should take unilateral action.
“Iran’s lies and obstruction have paid off,” said Rep. Ed Royce (R., Calif.), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, of the decision by the board of governors at the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog, to close the investigation into Iran’s past activities. He called the decision a “capitulation.”
Israel, which strongly opposed the nuclear pact, said that “serious doubts and outstanding issues regarding Iran’s program still remain,” despite the IAEA decision. “For over a decade, Iran has been non-cooperative and deceptive,” a foreign ministry spokesman said.
As a complicating factor, U.S. officials hope to begin lifting the sanctions before elections in Iran in February—which could influence whether moderates in Iran succeed in holding on to gains they won in 2013.
Members of the Security Council debated the committee’s report on Iran’s violations, but diplomats said the discussion was inconclusive.
Russia and China—which hold veto power—refused to condemn Iran. “They are concerned that the nuclear deal with Iran would fall apart if any action is taken,” said a Western diplomat.
The U.S. and its European allies called for Iran to be held accountable. But U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power didn’t say what measure should be taken or introduce a resolution. “This will be a long-term challenge,” she said.
France’s representative expressed concern that Iran’s violations so soon after reaching the nuclear deal “hardly bode well and demonstrates the extent to which we must be wary.”
The report on the missile launch, reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, said the ballistic missile, dubbed Emad, was an improved version of previous missiles, with a range of up to 1,300 kilometers (800 miles), a payload of up to 1,400 kilograms (1.5 tons), and better maneuvering capability when descending on a target.
“Iran is continuing to focus on further improvement of the performance of its existing ballistic-missile system with a particular focus on accuracy,” said the report.
The U.N. experts based their findings on reports in Iranian media, comments by Iranian officials and information provided by member states. The report included several pictures and screenshots of videos of Emad’s launch, and said the missile was tested in a desert location in the northwest or northeast of the country.
Iran’s Minister of Defense Hussien Dehghan told Iranian media that Emad is the first surface-to-surface ballistic missile fully designed and built by Iran, and can be precision-guided until it reaches its target. He said Emad would be delivered sometime in 2016.
U.N. experts said in the report that for Iran to reach that target date, it would have to carry out multiple tests.
The launching of ballistic missiles is prohibited in a provision of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1929. The resolution, adopted in 2010, imposed sanctions on Iran including an arms embargo, ban on testing of ballistic missiles, and restrictions on any material related to nuclear proliferation.
Most other sanctions against Iran are due to be lifted, and previous resolutions shelved, after the international nuclear agreement reached with international powers is put into effect.
Once that takes place, expected early next year, a new Security Council resolution would go into effect that diplomats say will still impose restrictions on Iran’s ability to launch ballistic missiles.
A key step in the implementation process came in Vienna, when the IAEA board closed its investigation. The IAEA report found Iran pursued a nuclear weapons program until 2003 and continued some activities until as late as 2009. However it said Iran’s activities weren’t advanced and that there was no evidence they continued after 2009.
In its report, circulated early this month, it appeared that Iran hadn’t offered clear answers to a number of questions raised about its past work. That led some U.S. lawmakers to press the Obama administration to stay its hand on sanctions relief until Tehran offered a fuller account.
U.S. Ambassador to the IAEA Henry Ensher said closing the probe wouldn’t prevent the agency from following up.
“This approach moves the board’s focus…toward implementation and monitoring of” the July agreement, he said. ”We are not closing the agency’s ability to investigate any potential concerns that may arise.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said the resolution means the “counterfeit issue of the so-called military dimension of Iran’s nuclear program…is now history,” according to the official Islamic Republic News Agency.
The Obama administration and the IAEA have argued that the nuclear deal allows for much greater scrutiny of Iran’s nuclear program than in the past. It also includes specific provisions preventing Iran from carrying out various things that could be used to develop nuclear weapons.
Opponents say that by failing to insist upon a full accounting of Iran’s past nuclear work now, when the U.S. and its partners still have the leverage of sanctions, the West is signaling to Tehran it won’t strictly enforce the agreement.
They also say that without that full disclosure, the U.S. and its allies can’t discount the possibility Tehran could build a weapon far more quickly than currently believed if it cheats on the nuclear deal.
IAEA Director-General Yukiya Amano called the decision a milestone but said the agency was “fully aware of the fact that much work needs to be done” to ensure Iran stays in line with July’s deal.
Iran is to receive relief from most—but not all—sanctions once it completes other provisions for implementing the deal, including removing the core of its plutonium reactor, scrapping much of its nuclear-fuel stockpile and removing thousands of centrifuges from its nuclear facilities.
Mr. Amano said that while Iran was working “at quite high speed” to meet its commitments, the agency would need “some weeks” to assess whether it had done everything required.
—Jay Solomon in Washington contributed to this article.
Write to Farnaz Fassihi at farnaz.fassihi@wsj.com and Laurence Norman at laurence.norman@wsj.com
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