U.S. Says European Allies Back Protest at UN on Iran Rocket

  • France, the U.K. and Germany don’t back quitting nuclear deal
  • Letter calls Iran’s launch ‘inconsistent’ with UN resolution

The Simorgh satellite launch at the Imam Khomeini National Space Centre on July 27, 2017.

Photographer: Iranian Defence Ministry/EPA
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The U.S. says it persuaded France, Germany and the U.K. to join in signing a letter of protest to the United Nations Security Council about Iran’s “threatening and provocative” launch last week of a rocket that can carry a satellite into space.

The four powers, which brokered the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran along with China and Russia, called the launch “inconsistent” with a Security Council resolution that accompanied the nuclear agreement, which eased economic sanctions in exchange for a reduction of the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program.