Iran defies US agreement and broadcasts Emad nuclear missile site

Last year's signing of a "landmark" agreement over Iran's nuclear capabilities is best forgotten. As tension between Iran and Saudi Arabia continues to rise, the Iranian state-controlled TV channels showed an underground missile site where the nuclear-capable Emad systems are stored and tested. The US has said that October's testing of the missile was a violation of its agreement and would consider fresh sanctions, but yesterday the Iranian Government approved further funding for the programme, saying that the missiles were already in operational use by the Revolutionary Guard.

DUBAI — Iran unveiled a new underground missile depot Tuesday, with state television showing weapons in store that the United States says are capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

The Emad precision-guided missiles shown in the footage also violate a 2010 United Nations Security Council resolution.

The defiant move to publicize Iran's missile program seems certain to irk the U.S. as it plans to dismantle nearly all sanctions on Iran under a breakthrough nuclear agreement.

The underground facility, situated in mountains and run by Iran's Revolutionary Guards, was inaugurated by the speaker of parliament, Ali Larijani, according to Iran's Tasnim news agency and state television.

The one-minute video of the facility followed footage of another underground missile depot last October.

A still from footage aired in October by Iran's state-run broadcaster showing an underground missile facility of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. Kyodo file

The U.S. says the Emad, which Iran tested in October, would be capable of carrying a nuclear warhead and American officials say Washington will respond to the tests with fresh sanctions against Iranian individuals and businesses linked to the program.

Iran's boasts are a challenge for President Barack Obama's administration as the U.S. and European Union plan to end nearly all international sanctions against Tehran under the nuclear deal reached in July.

Iran has abided by the main terms of the nuclear deal, which require it to give up material that world powers feared could be used to make an atomic weapon and accept other restrictions on its nuclear program.

But President Hassan Rouhani ordered his defense minister last week to expand the missile program.

In response to new US #sanctions planned against Iran's ballistic missile program, have ordered the Defense Minister to expedite the program — Hassan Rouhani (@HassanRouhani) December 31, 2015

The Iranian missiles under development boast much improved accuracy over the current generation, which experts say is likely to improve their effectiveness with conventional warheads.

The Revolutionary Guards' second-in-command, Brigadier General Hossein Salami, said Friday that Iran's depots and underground facilities are so full that they do not know how to store their new missiles.