US officials and experts in the field of nuclear weapons reduction warned that a satellite launched by Iran a few days ago was part of a secret program for ballistic missiles, and Britain expressed its "serious concern" on Friday.
Sources told the Wall Street Journal that Iran is likely to follow in the footsteps of North Korea, using the satellite program as a cover to develop ballistic missiles, a military program that Tehran has kept secret for a decade, according to those sources.
Researcher at the James Martin Center for Nuclear Non-Proliferation Studies, Fabian Haines, said there are strong indications that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard is aiming to acquire long-range missile technology.
He added that it is very reasonable for Iran to test in the next few years a system that can be used as missiles that reach most of Europe.
In turn, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a tweet on Twitter that the United States and Israel are safer outside the Iranian nuclear deal, which he described as a failed attempt to appease the terrorists, as he put it.
Pompeo had called on Wednesday, Wednesday, to hold Iran accountable for the satellite launch, and said he believed it was challenging the 2015 UN Security Council resolution.
And Britain had previously expressed its concern a few days ago, as a spokesman for the British Foreign Office said that "reports about Iran's launching a satellite using ballistic missile technology are very worrying and do not agree with Security Council Resolution 2231."
"The United Nations demands that Iran refrain from any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of carrying nuclear weapons, and Iran must abide by that," he added.
On the other hand, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif reiterated Iran's position that its missiles are "not designed" to carry nuclear weapons as stipulated in United Nations Resolution 2231.
"Neither (Europe nor the United States) can give lectures to Iran based on a poor and flimsy reading of the Security Council resolution," Zarif said in a tweet on Twitter a few days ago.