Britain, France and Germany have proposed fresh EU sanctions on Iran over its ballistic missiles and its role in Syria's war, according to a confidential document, in a bid to persuade Washington to preserve the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran.
Even the Europeans who believe in the farce of the nuclear deal don't think testing ballistic missiles that would be really useful for nuclear warheads is a good idea for Iran to pursue.
Remember, the nuanced set in the White House believed the awful nuclear deal would set Iran on the path to being a friendly "successful regional power."
So given the glorious future the deal would create, small details like defining what a banned missile is were unimportant to the American negotiators, quoting an Iranian official here on the deal:
"It doesn't call upon Iran not to test ballistic missiles, or ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear warheads ... it calls upon Iran not to test ballistic missiles that were 'designed' to be capable," Zarif said.
So if the missile isn't technically capable of having a nuclear warhead on it, it's cool.
No matter that once you have the missile perfected you can redesign the thing easily enough to be capable of mounting a nuclear warhead.
So now the Iranians are driving a nuclear ICBM through that loophole.
Europeans see the nuclear deal isn't stopping Iran from pursuing missiles most useful for nuclear warheads. Maybe the clue bat will get them to reverse course on the bigger deal before it is too late.