World Politics Review:
In mid-October, U.S. President Donald Trump declared that he would not recertify the Iran nuclear agreement, disavowing it but kicking to Congress the decision of whether the United States should reimpose sanctions on Iran and essentially scrap the deal. In doing so, Trump singled out Iran’s continued development of ballistic missiles, and the deal’s near-total silence on Iran’s missile programs, as one of the agreement’s “flaws.”
The wisdom of linking the nuclear deal to Iran’s ballistic missile program is debatable. But a series of recent tests and public unveilings indicates that Iran is indeed making significant progress toward meeting its missile and space ambitions, following several years of unproductive activity. If successful, Iran may ultimately be able to place military satellites of consequence into space and field a new and more capable ballistic missile against its regional adversaries.
