The White House put Iran "on notice" on Wednesday for test-firing a ballistic missile and said it was reviewing how to respond, abruptly adopting an aggressive posture toward Tehran that could raise tensions in the region. It was unclear what actions the new Republican administration might take to try to rein in Iran for a missile launch that President Donald Trump and his top aides considered defiance of a nuclear deal negotiated in 2015 by then-Democratic President Barack Obama. Officials declined to say whether the military option was on the table, although Pentagon spokesman Christopher Sherwood said "the U.S. military has not changed its posture in response to the Iranian test missile launch" on Sunday. A fiery statement from Trump's national security adviser, Michael Flynn, marked some of the most aggressive rhetoric by the administration that took power on Jan. 20, making clear that Obama's less confrontational approach toward Iran was now over. Flynn said that, instead of being thankful to the United States for the nuclear deal, "Iran is now feeling emboldened." "As of today, we are officially putting Iran on notice," he told reporters in his first appearance in the White House press briefing room. He said the launch and an attack on Monday against a Saudi naval vessel by Iran-allied Houthi militants off the coast of Yemen underscored "Iran's destabilizing behavior across the Middle East." Iran confirmed it had tested a new missile but said it did not breach a nuclear accord reached with world powers or a U.N. Security Council resolution that endorsed the pact.
