Donald Trump has made history by banning travel to the USA from 7 Muslim nations, including Iran. The US has had a torturous relationship with Iran for nearly 4 decades -- following the fall of Shah Reza Pahlavi. This relationship is now aggravated with Iran testing an ICBM. This is the first provocative action by Iran since Trump has taken over the presidency. Fox News has reported that the missile was tested on Sunday from a site 140 miles east of Tehran. The Khorramshahr missile, after launch, flew 600 miles before exploding. Iran said that they will start production of the missile.
On the face of it the missile test appears to be an infringement on UN resolution 2231. This test in of the ICBM is a direct challenge to the presidency of Donald Trump.
US and Iran
All through the election campaign, Donald Trump hammered at the nuclear agreement with Iran. He promised that he would scrap the agreement, but so far he has not acted on what he said. Iran, last year, fired two missiles in defiance of world opinion. It provoked the USA and Israel with one of the missiles painted with the words "Israel must be wiped out" in Hebrew.
The testing of the missile is a direct challenge to the US and it will be interesting to see how the president will react. Donald has so far not commented on the test, but the national security advisor Micheal Flynn has promised a more "muscular response." This response has, however, not been spelled out.
He, however, blamed the previous president Obama for a lax policy that has emboldened Iran.
Rivalry in the Middle East
The Iranian's are the exponent of Shia sects and directly oppose Saudi Arabia, which considers itself the guardian of Sunni interests and is an ally of the USA. They are the supporters of Assad in Syria and the Houthi's in Yemen.
They also captured over 100 diplomats belonging the US embassy in Tehran, and only released them after a heavy ransom amount was paid.
Last word
The USA has said that it will put Iran on notice. What that means has not been specified, as Iran has the support of Russia and China. Donald may well find that dealing with Iran will be more difficult than signing an executive order banning Muslims from 7 countries from entering the USA.
