Iran test-fires missile

♦ Tehran warns Washington not to create new tensions
♦ Russia says missile test does not contravene UN resolution

Iran yesterday warned the United States against "creating new tensions" over its ballistic missile tests as Washington called for urgent talks at the UN Security Council on the issue.

The row comes against a backdrop of already-strained relations over US President Donald Trump's travel ban on citizens from Iran and six other Muslim-majority countries.

The European Union appealed to Tehran to refrain from activities such as the missile tests "which deepen mistrust".

But the diplomatic push by the West quickly ran into trouble as Russia said a missile test would not breach a UN resolution on Iran's nuclear programme.

Moscow, which is fighting alongside Tehran's forces in Syria, said the demand for emergency talks at the Security Council was aimed at "heating up the situation".

Tehran has neither confirmed nor denied firing any missiles over the weekend.

US President Donald Trump has sharply criticised the nuclear deal that led to a lifting of international sanctions against Iran, which used the occasion of a visit by France's foreign minister to express its discontent with Washington.

"We hope that Iran's defence programme is not used by the new US administration... as a pretext to create new tensions," Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said at a press conference with Jean-Marc Ayrault.

Iran says its missiles do not breach United Nations resolutions because they are for defence purposes and not designed to carry nuclear warheads.

"We have always declared that we will never use our weapons against others except in our defence," Zarif added.

And he slammed the new US administration's "shameful act of denying entry to people holding legal visas" for the United States.

Speaking at the same news conference, Ayrault said France had made clear its disquiet over the missile tests.