Iran promised to "vigorously" continue its missile activity Thursday and would not bow to threats from the United States.
Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader, dismissed the "extremism" of President Donald Trump, who declared Iran was "on notice" after it test-fired a ballistic missile on Sunday.
The tensions between the two countries have been simmering since the election of Trump, a harsh critic of the nuclear deal with lran that was brokered by the Obama administration.
On Wednesday, US National Security Advisor Michael Flynn said Sunday's test was a "provocative" breach of a UN Security Council resolution. Trump tweeted Thursday: "Iran has been formally PUT ON NOTICE" and should have been "thankful" for the "terrible deal".
Velayati dismissed the President's "baseless ranting" and said that even Americans were not satisfied with "Trump's extremism", according to Iran's semi-official Fars News Agency.
Trump has been a longtime critic of the Iran accord. The deal, struck with five members of the UN Security Council and Germany in 2015, put stringent limits on Iran's nuclear program. It allowed sanctions to be eased and business with Iran to recommence.
Speaking Wednesday, Flynn did not say whether the US would take action beyond a verbal warning. Three senior administration officials, speaking on background, said that they were still in the early stages of determining what action the US should take in response.
"We are considering a whole range of options. We're in a deliberative process," one of the officials said.
Iran's Foreign Ministry insisted Tuesday that Sunday's missile test was "solely for defensive purposes," and not a violation of the UN Security Council resolution which bars Iran from testing "ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons."
Via CNN
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