Why did Iran carry out ballistic missile testing in January despite the terms of the Iran nuclear deal and despite United Nations Security Council resolutions? The most obvious answer is that Iran was testing the resolve of the new US President and seeing how he would react. 

President Trump, even before he took office, spoke very negatively about the Iranian regime, its aggressive and provocative behaviour and its spread of terrorism. He called the nuclear deal the “worst” he had seen and said he would scrap it.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) recently renewed Khomeini’s fatwa for the assassination of writer Salman Rushdie. The fatwa was initially issued 27 years ago by the first Supreme Leader of Iran following the publication of Rushdie’s book “The Satanic Verses”. The reward was raised to approximately $300,000 USD.

Regarding the fatwa that forced the writer into hiding, Khomeini declared: “I am afraid that in ten years time this decree would be set aside for diplomatic concerns”.

A Palestinian terrorist group in Lebanon, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, has announced that there should be an “all-out war” with Jordan and Israel. He said that Iranian fighters would battle to “liberate Palestine”.

The leader of the group, Ahmad Jibril, said last week: “I want to see the revolutionary fighters from [Iran] in the Galilee.” He said that “an axis of resistance” should be put into place against Israel and Iraq, Iran, Syria and Hezbollah should be involved in that effort.

The Friday Prayer leaders of Mashhad and Tehran said last Friday that the Palestine issue is high on the Iranian regime’s list of priorities despite the major problems caused by the flood and dust crisis. 

 Ahmad Alamolhoda of Masshad’s Friday Prayer group said: “The people of Khuzestan sacrificed their lives and were martyred under the mortar and rocket attacks launched by these infidels. Why should we stop displaying such authority due to the water and electricity outage of Khuzestan? Shouldn’t we show our power?”

The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph Dunford, said that the hostile and aggressive behaviour of Iran has not changed since the United States put the country “on notice” at the beginning of the month. 

Iran conducted its first test-firing of a ballistic missile since President Trump took office at the end of January. The President and his (now former) national security adviser Michael Flynn said a few days later that Iran was “on notice”. Another reason they stated for putting Iran on notice was its support for terrorist groups – Houthi rebels in Yemen, for example.