Commenting on an unveiling ceremony that was held at an underground ballistic missile production facility for the aerospace forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), US State Department deputy spokesman Robert Palladino has called to address what he described as "Iran's blatant disregard for international norms".
"The United States will continue to be relentless in building support around the world to confront the Iranian regime's reckless ballistic missile activity, and we will continue to impose sufficient pressure on the regime so that it changes its malign behaviour — including by fully implementing all of our sanctions", he noted.
According to the spokesman, the US must bring back tougher international restrictions to deter Iran's missile programme.
The statement comes after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted that Iran's latest missile launch again proved the 2015 nuclear deal was doing nothing to stop the Islamic Republic's missile programme.
Last May, US President Donald Trump announced that the United States would withdraw from the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), commonly referred to as the Iran nuclear deal, and would reimpose sanctions against Tehran.
Since withdrawing from the accord, the Trump administration has taken an increasingly hard line on Iran and has stepped up its effort to combat what it calls the Islamic Republic's "malign" influence across the Middle East.
