by Erez Linn
Head of Revolutionary Guard's aerospace division Brig. Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh says Iran prepared ballistic missile for purpose of launching satellite "for civilian purposes" • Hajizadeh calls decision to cancel missile test "humiliating behavior."
A ballistic missile test in
an undisclosed location in Iran in 2016
|
Photo credit: Reuters  |
A high-ranking Iranian official admitted last
week that Iran canceled a planned ballistic missile test over warnings
from the United States.
According to a report Thursday by Iranian news
agency Tasnim, Brig. Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander of the
Revolutionary Guard's Aerospace Force, publicly acknowledged that a
ballistic missile test scheduled to take place in February was nixed
after the White House warned the Islamic republic not to repeat the
provocative missile test it performed in late January.
According to the report, Hajizadeh said: "We
prepared a ballistic missile for the purpose of launching a satellite
for civilian purposes, but there were people who sent it back to the
storage facility after a threat was received from the Americans."
He criticized the move, calling it "humiliating behavior."
In late January, Iran tested tested a medium-range ballistic missile in violation of U.N. Security Council
resolutions barring it from testing missiles capable of delivering a
nuclear warhead.
The test annoyed Washington, with
then-National Security Adviser Michael Flynn saying the White House had
officially put Iran "on notice" and the U.S. was placing additional
sanctions on Iran.
Days after Flynn's warning, Fox News reported
that Iran had been frenziedly preparing to launch a missile with the
same components as an intercontinental ballistic missile and with
properties very similar to that of its Shahab-3 missile. According to
the report, which was based on satellite imagery of the launching pad,
the missile was, for reasons unknown at the time, removed from the
launching pad.
Erez Linn
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=41025
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