US urges Europe to impose sanctions on Iran over missiles

The Trump administration is urging Europe to impose tough new sanctions on Iran over its ballistic missile program.

The call comes as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is to meet European officials in Brussels this week and after the US and others condemned an Iranian missile launch over the weekend.

Iran is expected to be a major topic of conversation when Pompeo meets Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Brussels on Monday night. Pompeo also plans to talk about Iran when he meets his counterparts from Britain, France, and Germany on Tuesday, while he is in Belgium for a meeting of NATO counterparts.

US special envoy for Iran Brian Hook rejects Iran’s insistence that its missile program is defensive. He tells reporters traveling with Pompeo that Iran’s continued missile development and testing is a threat to the region and beyond and in defiance of UN Security Council demands.

Hook says US discussions with the Europeans about missile sanctions are gaining traction. Those talks center on slapping penalties on companies and people involved in Iran’s program.

“It is a grave and escalating threat and nations around the world, not just Europe, need to do everything they can to be targeting Iran’s missile program,” Hook says.

— AP