Is Iran Preparing For War? Tehran Conducts Second Missile Test In As Many Weeks, Report Says

Iran conducted a missile test Wednesday in defiance of U.S. warnings against such actions, Fox News reported.

The test was conducted on the Semnan launch pad, the same launch pad from which a ballistic missile was fired last month, prompting the Trump administration to impose new sanctions, sources told Fox News. The launch pad is 140 miles east of Tehran.

Wednesday’s test was of a short-range Mersad surface-to-air missile, which came down 35 miles away, a U.S. official told Fox.

https://twitter.com/FoxNews/status/829467067124379648

Iran’s Jan. 29 test involved a medium-range ballistic missile capable of reaching Israel and Saudi Arabia, prompting an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting and a statement from national security adviser Michael Flynn putting the Islamic Republic “on notice.”

U.N. Resolution 2231 asks Iran not to conduct ballistic missile tests but does not prohibit them. The resolution was adopted days after acceptance of the nuclear deal that rolled back Tehran’s nuclear program.

Iranian officials said they have the right to conduct missile tests.

The Treasury Department Friday imposed sanctions against multiple entities and individuals involved “in procuring technology and/or materials to support Iran’s ballistic missile program, as well as for acting for or on behalf of, or providing support to, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force.” Some of the companies hit are Chinese, prompting complaints from Bejing.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei dismissed the U.S. actions, saying Iran is not afraid of President Donald Trump and U.S. enmity against his country never has eased, Xinhua reported.

"Iran would not be crippled by the enemies," Khamenei vowed as the country prepared to celebrate the anniversary of the 1979 Iranian revolution Friday.

Chinese Foreign Minister Lu Kang criticized the sanctions, saying they “harm the interests of a third party” and are “not helpful.”

Trump has threatened to tear up the nuclear deal, which was reached in July 2015 between Iran and the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany. Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said Tuesday Iran is not inclined to renegotiate the deal.

"It's clear that neither Iran nor Europe will accept a re-examination of the deal. So, we have difficult days ahead,” Zarif said.

Trump has called the deal a “disaster” and “the worst deal ever negotiated.”