The Obama administration is considering how to respond to an Iranian ballistic missile launch that violated U.N. Security Council resolutions, senior U.S. officials said on Thursday, as senators pressed for a strong reaction.
“We are now actively considering the appropriate consequences to that launch in October,” Stephen Mull, the State Department’s lead coordinator for implementing an international nuclear deal with Iran, told a Senate committee hearing.
Almost every Republican U.S. lawmaker, as well as several of President Barack Obama’s fellow Democrats, opposed the nuclear agreement announced in July, in which Iran agreed with major powers to curtail its nuclear program in exchange for relief from economic sanctions.
Concerns in the United States about the agreement have intensified since Iran’s rocket test on Oct. 10 and other events seen as hostile, including the conviction of Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, who has been held by Tehran for more than 500 days.
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