World | Thu Oct 22, 2015 1:07pm EDT

U.N. council will examine details of Iran's missile test: Russia

UNITED NATIONS | BY LOUIS CHARBONNEAU AND MICHELLE NICHOLS

Russia's U.N. envoy on Thursday said the United Nations Security Council will examine the technical details of a ballistic missile test by Iran, which the United States and its European allies have said violated U.N. sanctions.

The United States, Britain, France and Germany called on Wednesday for the council's Iran sanctions committee to take action over the launch, which they said involved a ballistic missile "inherently capable of delivering a nuclear weapon."

Reporters asked Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin if Moscow believed it was a violation that would necessitate punitive steps by the committee.

"We need to be very careful about those things, we will look into technical details and then, of course, we need to take into account the political circumstances," Churkin said. "One has to be professional about it. It's not a sensational kind of issue."

Iran said earlier this month that it tested a new precision-guided ballistic missile. It denies the missile was nuclear-capable.

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