For those who never knew and those who have forgotten.
Fifty-two American diplomats and citizens were held hostage for 444 days (November 4, 1979, to January 20, 1981), after a group of Iranian students, belonging to the Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line, who were supporting the Iranian Revolution, took over the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.
The U.S. is conducting a “serious review” of Iran’s second ballistic
missile test in as many months in apparent violation of two U.N.
Security Council resolutions, according to the State Department and the
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.
Fox News first reported the Iranian missile launch Monday.
The November 21 launch, Iran’s second since a nuclear
accord was signed by Iran and six world powers, comes more than a month
after the well-publicized first test in October.
U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power said Tuesday that if
the latest missile test is deemed to be in violation of U.N. Security
Council resolutions, the U.S. would raise it with the Security Council’s
sanctions committee.
“I don't want to get ahead of the work the U.S.
government is doing,” Power told reporters outside the United Nations
Tuesday. “But as happened last time, if we can confirm it, and if there
is a violation of any Security Council resolution, we will come here and
we will seek appropriate action.”
On Nov. 21 Iran test-fired a medium-range Ghadr-110
ballistic missile from a known test site near the port city of Chabahar
in southeast Iran near the border with Pakistan in violation of two
existing U.N. resolutions, a senior US official and Western intelligence
sources told Fox News.
The missile has a range of 1,200 miles, which puts
Tel Aviv and most of Israel within its sights, along with most U.S.
military bases in the Middle East.
“We are taking the report very seriously,” State
Department spokesman John Kirby said Tuesday. “If the reports are
confirmed and if there is a violation of any relevant U.N. Security
Council resolution, then we're going to take the appropriate actions, as
we've proven that we're capable of doing in the past.”
He said those next steps could be taken by the United States alone, if necessary.
Kirby acknowledged Iran has a long history of ignoring U.N. Security Council resolutions.
“For years, Iran has serially ignored U.N. Security Council resolutions. It's a fact,” Kirby told reporters.
After Iran conducted its first ballistic missile test
in October, the U.S. issued a joint report with France, Germany and the
UK condemning the incident and referred the matter to the U.N.
Security Council Iran Sanctions Committee to take action, demanding an
explanation for the October launch.
That request of Iran, according to Kirby, came three days after Tehran carried out the second missile launch on Nov. 21.
It is not immediately clear if the State Dept. knew about the second Iranian missile launch at the time.
Kirby said the U.N. was still “weighing out those responses,” from the October launch.
When Fox News asked if Iran was not getting the
message, Kirby responded: “I think it's been crystal clear what the
message from the international community is.”
After the Oct. 10 launch, President Obama promised to
raise the issue with the sanctions committee, but said that it would
not derail the July nuclear agreement.
"I think what we'll be doing is we'll review, as we
have in the past, any violations of U.N. resolutions, and we'll deal
with them much as we have in the past,” Obama told reporters at the
White House on October 16
.
The U.N.- passed resolution 2231, days after the
nuclear accord was signed in July. That resolution compels Iran to
refrain from any work on ballistic missiles for eight years. A separate
U.N. Security Council resolution passed on 2010 bans Iran from
conducting all ballistic missile tests.
On Tuesday, Power reiterated calls for a united effort to curb Iran’s violations.
“We think it is extremely important that council
resolutions be enforced,” said Power. “We really hope the Council will
come together in response to such a blatant launch as the one that
occurred in October.”
Asked if Iran’s ballistic missile testing was what
Secretary Kerry had hoped after the nuclear accord was struck, the
State Department spokesman said, “We never expected Iran would
automatically change its behavior as a result of this deal.”
The U.N. Security Council’s Iran sanctions committee meets next Tuesday.
“I want to also underscore that we have other tools
beyond the Security Council, we have our own bilateral sanctions,” Power
said. “I would note as it relates to the launch in October, many of the
individuals involved in the launch and the entities are already under
U.S. sanctions and that is something we have already sought to neuter
their ability to carry out launches like this.”
Jennifer Griffin currently serves as a national security
correspondent for FOX News Channel . She joined FNC in October 1999 as a
Jerusalem-based correspondent.