US looks to sidestep UN on Iran missiles
Blocked at the UN Security Council, the Obama administration considers other multilateral tools.
With Russia blocking sanctions at the United Nations, the Obama administration is looking at other international avenues to rein in Iran’s ballistic missile program.
The White House insists it has all the unilateral authorities it needs to slap new sanctions on Iran for defying the spirit — if perhaps not the letter — of the UN Security Council resolution implementing the nuclear deal. That resolution “called upon” Iran “not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons.”
Russia insists that language is not a legal prohibition, in effect ruling out more missile-related UN sanctions. But the Obama administration, eager to calm jittery lawmakers, insists it has a number of other multilateral tools outside of UN action that it can use to counter threats from Iran’s missile program.
Those tools specifically include the Proliferation Security Initiative and the Missile Technology Control Regime, an administration official told Al-Monitor. Russia is a party to both agreements, which are nonbinding but are nevertheless seen as being among the best chances to prevent Iran from further developing its missile program.
