29 September,2009 12:49 PM IST | | Agencies
Iran's move to test-fire missiles over the weekend has met with international criticism, with the US saying they fit into Tehran's pattern of provocation.
White House spokesperson Robert Gibbs said late Monday the tests were part of the "provocative nature with which Iran has acted on the world stage for a number of years".
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, meeting his Iranian counterpart Manucher Mottaki on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, expressed Moscow's deep concern over the tests and urged Tehran to cooperate to the largest extent possible with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
While missile tests were not forbidden, he asked Iran to act with maximum restraint, as the tests, in connection with the unresolved dispute over Iran's nuclear programme, were a cause of concern.
Javier Solana, the European Union's foreign policy representative, expressed the bloc's concerns ahead of a meeting between Iran and international nuclear negotiators on Thursday in Geneva.
Gibbs also urged Iran to grant IAEA inspectors immediate and unfettered access to its nuclear facilities, following revelations that Iran was constructing a second uranium enrichment facility.
The US hoped that Iran was willing allow access to the Qom facility, "to engage in full transparency and to demonstrate for the world that it will give up its nuclear weapons programme and ensure that whatever it does is in the peaceful pursuit of nuclear energy," Gibbs said.
"It is an important day and an important week for the Iranians. They have decisions to make. They have one of two paths that they can take," Gibbs said. Tehran could either continue its confrontation course, or step away from nuclear weapons, he added.
Tehran said on Monday it successfully tested its Shahab-3 missiles, which have a range of 2,000 km and are therefore capable of reaching Israel.
Defence Minister Ahmad Vahidi again warned that an Israeli attack against Iran's nuclear facilities would lead to the collapse of the Jewish state, while the foreign ministry stressed there was no connection between the tests and the revelations about the second enrichment facility at Qom.
