Brown blasts Iran's latest missile launch, warns of tougher sanctions

Copenhagen (Denmark), Dec. 16 (ANI): British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has condemned Iran's latest missile test and warned that country that it could face tougher sanctions.

Brown discussed the development when he met UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on the sidelines of the climate change talks in Copenhagen.

"I have expressed to him and he has also expressed concern about the test of a long-range missile by Iran," The Daily Star quoted Brown, as saying.

"This is a matter of serious concern to the international community and it does make the case for us moving further on sanctions.We will treat this with the seriousness it deserves," he added.

According to The Times, Iran's state television channel reported that an upgraded version of its Sejil-2 weapon was fired this morning.

The missile is believed to be capable of reaching almost any target in the Middle East, including Israel, Iraq and several American military bases in the region.

Tehran's claim came as the US said it would investigate a report in The Times that Iran had been working on a trigger for a nuclear weapon.

The Obama Administration said yesterday that it was investigating work on a trigger - one of the final stages in the production of the atomic bomb.

Philip Crowley, the US State Department spokesman, said: "It's safe to say the United States Government will be investigating... the revelations this week about nuclear triggers."

The US and its European allies have entered a more aggressive phase in their attempts to halt Iran's nuclear ambitions.

A concerted effort will continue into next year to have a tough new set of UN sanctions against Tehran, something that can happen only with the co-operation of China and Russia, who have veto power as permanent members of the Security Council.

The revelations about the nuclear trigger were contained in confidential intelligence documents that were obtained by The Times and which foreign intelligence agencies date to early 2007 four years after US agencies assessed that Iran had suspended efforts to produce nuclear weapons.

The documents reveal that Iran has worked on a neutron initiator, the component of a nuclear bomb that triggers an explosion.

A senior US official said that if the documents prove to be authentic they underscored the need for new sanctions against Iran. (ANI)