There’s been no deterrence of Iran’s ballistic missile program. That was the assessment of  General Lloyd Austin, asked by U.S. Senator Kelly Ayotte, R-NH, if Iran had changed course.  Her question related to reports that the country’s Islamic Revolutionay Guards Corps test fired several ballistic missiles. She wondered, during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, whether the recent Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, was deterring the Iranians.

While the general, who serves as head of the U.S. Central Command, pointed out that the U.S. will continue to monitor Iran’s moves, Ayotte referred to the current sanctions against Iran as pathetic and weak, and said that the U.S. should, as she put it, “up our game,” with tougher sanctions against the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps ballistic missile testing.

Ayotte called the sanctions the administration imposed in January “pathetic and weak” and called on the administration to “up our game and impose real, tough sanctions on Iran on their ballistic missile program.”

The New Hampshire Senator has expressed concern that Iran’s missile program could threaten deployed American troops and regional allies like Israel, as well as work on an intercontinental ballistic missile that could strike the U.S.

For InDepthNH.org  I’m Roger Wood