Missiles at a Revolutionary Guards parade in Tehran (archive)
Missiles at a Revolutionary Guards parade in Tehran (archive)Reuters

The United States State Department said on Tuesday it was in discussions with other U.S. agencies on imposing sanctions against Iran for an October 10 ballistic missile test by Tehran that violated UN Security Council resolutions, Reuters reported.

"We are fully prepared to use sanctions with respect to this most recent ballistic missile test (and) are still working through some technical issues there," spokesman John Kirby stated.

In October, Iran conducted the ballistic missile test which elicited strong condemnation from members of the UN Security Council. A month later, it  tested another ballistic missile, and an American official said other undeclared tests occurred earlier than that.

A team of UN sanctions monitors confirmed in a recent report that a medium-range Emad rocket that Iran tested on October 10 was a ballistic missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead, making it a violation of a UN Security Council resolution.

Following that confirmation, it was reported that the Obama administration is preparing new sanctions on international companies and individuals who played a role in Iran’s ballistic endeavors, but a day later it was reported that the White House had delayed its plan to impose the sanctions.

Responding to news reports that the State Department stopped sanctions from being imposed because Iran objected, Kirby said, "There continues to be a robust inter-agency discussion about moving forward on sanctions."

"We don't take sanctions advice or guidance from Iran or any other country," he stressed, according to Reuters.