A top State Department official said Thursday that over the past year Iran has only escalated its missile activities and support for terrorism across the Middle East, behavior that the Trump administration is urging European allies to respond to with sanctions.
“Iran’s support of the Houthi militants has deepened, its backing of terror activities across the world have increased, and its efforts to undermine regional stability have expanded,” State Department official Brian Hook said in remarks from Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling. He stood amid a display of weapons collected in Afghanistan, Bahrain, and Yemen.
“The inventory in this collection has expanded since December,” he said. “This is a function of Iran’s relentless commitment to put more weapons into the hands of even more of its proxies.”
Hook’s remarks represent a follow-up to a presentation U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley gave last December. At the time, Haley unveiled a collection of weapons debris that she described as “concrete evidence of illegal Iranian weapons proliferation.” The display included fragments from a missile that Haley said was made by Iran and provided to Houthi militants in Yemen, who then fired it at an airport in Saudi Arabia. “It was a clear violation of U.N. resolutions then, and it remains so today,” Hook said Thursday.
Hook has previously pointed to U.N. Resolution 2231, which endorsed the 2015 nuclear deal and “called upon” Iran “not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons.” It also imposes arms transfer restrictions on Iran.
Among the display weapons that Hook mentioned Thursday: a surface-to-air missile with Farsi writing on the side intended for Houthi rebels that the Saudis intercepted in Yemen. “The conspicuous Farsi markings is Iran’s way of saying they don’t mind being caught violating U.N. resolutions.” The display also includes Fajr rockets recovered in Afghanistan, which Hook suggested were provided to the Taliban by Iran. “Iran has been providing material support to the Taliban since at least 2007.”
Hook also said that Iran has increased its “investment in missile testing and development.” “The regime’s pace of missile launches did not diminish after implementation of the Iran nuclear deal,” he said. “It continues to prioritize missile development as a tool of revolution.” He added that the administration has evidence that Iran is helping Hezbollah build missile-production facilities in Lebanon.
“We urge all nations, especially the European Union, to move missile sanctions,” he said, later separately adding, “preserving the Iran nuclear deal cannot come at the expense of regional stability.”
His remarks come weeks after the Trump administration re-imposed a large set of sanctions that were lifted under the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. The administration also convinced a key financial messaging service to cut off certain designated Iranian banks, and has re-imposed sanctions against Iran’s oil sector while granting temporary waivers to eight countries. European powers are determined to preserve the nuclear deal and are discussing a mechanism that would ensure trade with Iran despite U.S. sanctions.
Hook said most of the countries he has visited with share the Trump administration’s concerns about Iran’s activities. But he urged those who are “on the fence” to visit the weapons display. “It’s very important for nations to see with their own eyes that this is a grave and escalating threat,” he later said. “We are one missile attack away from a regional conflict.”
