The White House put Iran "on notice" Wednesday after the Middle Eastern nation unsuccessfully tested a medium-range ballistic missile.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer confirmed Monday that, indeed, Iran had conducted the test but did not provide any further details, CNN reported. Those details finally came Wednesday when President Donald Trump's national security adviser, Gen. Michael Flynn, addressed reporters during the daily White House press briefing.
"As of today, we are officially putting Iran on notice," Flynn said, noting the country's "provocative" test of a ballistic missile and the armed Houthi attack on a Saudi warship off Yemen's western coast Monday, Reuters reported. The Houthis are an Iranian-backed rebel group believed to be working with former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was overthrown in 2012 during the Arab Spring, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Iranian defense minister Hossein Dehghan insisted the action does not violate Iran's nuclear agreement with the U.S., known as the Iran Deal. The White House did not say Wednesday whether it considers the test a violation. It was also not clear what the White House meant by "on notice."
The White House did not immediately respond to TheBlaze when asked to clarify the language.
Flynn said that Iran's recent actions "underscore what should have been clear to the international community all along about Iran’s destabilizing behavior across the Middle East." Flynn then took on the previous presidential administration for its handling of the world's largest sponsor of terrorism.
"The Obama Administration failed to respond adequately to Tehran’s malign actions — including weapons transfers, support for terrorism, and other violations of international norms," Flynn said, adding that the Trump administration "condemns" such actions that "undermine security, prosperity and stability throughout and beyond the Middle East and place American lives at risk."
Flynn also took aim at the United Nations over its "weak and ineffective" 2015 Security Council Resolution, which the Obama administration and Iran both agreed to. The U.N. resolution called upon Iran not to undertake any ballistic missile activity capable of producing nuclear weapons.
