The United States requested the urgent talks following the weekend missile launch, the first action taken at the council by President Donald Trump’s envoy

Iran’s test-firing of a medium-range ballistic missile is “absolutely unacceptable,” US Ambassador Nikki Haley said Tuesday following a closed-door meeting of the UN Security Council.

The United States requested the urgent talks following the weekend missile launch, the first action taken at the council by President Donald Trump’s envoy.

“We have confirmed that Iran did have a medium-size missile launch testing on January 29, on Sunday. This is absolutely unacceptable,” Haley told reporters.

She challenged Iran’s assertion that its missiles are not in violation of UN resolutions because they are for defense purposes and not designed to carry nuclear warheads.

“They know that they are not supposed to be doing ballistic missile testing” of anything that can carry warheads, said Haley.

The missile launched Sunday was capable of carrying a 500-kilogram payload and had a range of 300 kilometers, she said.

“That is more than enough to be able to deliver a nuclear weapon.” The ambassador said Iran was trying to convince the world that “they are being nice” before adding: “I will tell the people across the world that is something we should be alarmed about.”

“The United States is not naive. We are not going to stand by. You will see us call them out,” warned Haley.

“We are committed to making them understand that this is not anything that we will ever accept.”

Haley said the United States wanted to shut down supplies of missile technology to Tehran.

“No country should be supplying Iran with any of the technology allowing them to do that,” she said.

The council requested a report on the missile launch from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and from a committee set up after the council endorsed the Iran nuclear deal, British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft said.

Britain maintains that the test is “inconsistent” with UN resolutions, but has not declared the launch to be a violation.

[vuukle]