Iran Test-fires Ballistic Missile, Rejects Talks With Trump

According to United States intelligence officials, Iran for the first time in 2018 test-fired a ballistic missile, in a show of defiance just days before Washington re-imposed sanctions on the Islamic Republic. The test of an Iranian Fateh-110 short-range ballistic missile—which reportedly was detected by American spy satellites—coincided with a large naval exercise conducted earlier this month by the Revolutionary Guard Corps in the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran has on multiple occasions threatened to shut the vital waterway, through which about 30 percent of the global oil supply transits. One of the reasons cited by President Trump for his withdrawal in May from the nuclear accord is that the agreement did not address Iran’s development of ballistic missiles, which serve as a delivery system for atomic warheads. Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif categorically rejected the notion of meeting his U.S. counterpart Mike Pompeo and also poured cold water on reports that President Hassan Rouhani was considering holding talks with President Trump next month on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. “On Trump’s recent proposal [of talks], our official stance was announced.… Americans are not honest and their addiction to sanctions does not allow any negotiation to take place,” Zarif told the Iranian Tasnim news agency.