US, Iran Quarrel in Final Days of Outgoing Administration 

Iran on Saturday pressed on with its less-than-friendly reception of incoming President Joe Biden, conducting its third missile test in one week and flexing its muscles as a new administration takes office in Washington. Tehran launched a long-range ballistic missile into the Indian Ocean, one day after testing surface-to-surface weapons and new drones and three days after firing short-range missiles, all the while promising it had “no offensive intentions.” On Friday, less than a week before he leaves office, United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced a new batch of sanctions on organizations and individuals doing business with Iran, blacklisting Chinese and Emirati steel companies and Tehran’s major aerospace, aviation and marine industries. The chief of staff to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani dismissed the announcement as “nothing more than a show.” Meanwhile, France’s foreign minister on Saturday blamed President Donald Trump’s “Maximum Pressure” sanctions policy for “only increas[ing] the risk and threat” of a nuclear Iran, and urged President-elect Biden to rejoin the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran that President Trump pulled out of in 2018, before it’s too late.