BRUSSELS—European Union foreign ministers will weigh a response to Iran’s recent ballistic missile tests on Monday as the Obama administration considers what steps it should take.
Iran last week carried out a barrage of tests following vows by officials to press ahead with its missile program despite U.S. pressure to curtail it.
The Obama administration has said the tests don’t breach last year’s nuclear deal between Iran and six major powers but that they are inconsistent with the United Nations Security Council resolution that was approved in the aftermath of the nuclear agreement.
In January, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned 11 Iranian entities over alleged links to the missile program.
Earlier this year, former French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabiussaid the bloc should weigh a sanctions response because of the tests but the idea quickly faded.
However, several foreign ministers said Monday that following last week’s tests, the bloc was now considering some action.
“I think we have to react,” said Slovak Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak. “We have to have an assessment of the test and then we should have a discussion about how to react to this.”
U.K. Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said the bloc’s foreign ministers will discuss the issue Monday and that he expects EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini to address the issue later in the day.
“We need to make sure that our approach is balanced so that while we exploit the opportunities that come from an opening with Iran…we also have to be clear that Iran continues to carry out
unacceptable behavior: missile testings, aggressive behavior and sponsorship of terrorism around the Gulf,” he said.
It isn’t clear if a final decision will be made on Monday. One senior EU official said that while the issue would definitely be broached Monday there was so far “no response foreseen” to the tests. It often takes the 28-nation bloc some weeks to agree on joint action.
On her way into the foreign ministers meeting, Ms. Mogherini said she would ask foreign ministers for their views “on which issues or sectors to re-engage, to reopen full relations and…to cooperate with Iran bilaterally.”

Source: Wall Street Journal, 14 March 2016