Special to WorldTribune.com

Iran tested a new medium-range missile capable of delivering a nuclear weapon just one day after the United States pulled its last aircraft carrier from the Persian Gulf.

The USS Theodore Roosevelt left the Persian Gulf on Oct. 9. The U.S. will not have an aircraft carrier in the region until the USS Harry Truman arrives later this winter. It is the first time the U.S. will go without an aircraft carrier presence in the Gulf since 2008.

Meanwhile, the U.S. said Iran’s missile test was a violation of a United Nations resolution.

“The United States is deeply concerned about Iran’s recent ballistic missile launch,” U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power said.

“After reviewing the available information, we can confirm that Iran launched on Oct. 10 a medium-range ballistic missile inherently capable of delivering a nuclear weapon. This was a clear violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1929.

“The Security Council prohibition on Iran’s ballistic missile activities, as well as the arms embargo, remain in place and we will continue to press the Security Council for an appropriate response to Iran’s disregard for its international obligations,” she said.

The Obama administration has said the missile test does not violate the terms of the nuclear agreement, which officially went into effect on Oct. 18.

Many observers say the absence of a U.S. aircraft carrier in the Middle East surely won’t go unnoticed.

“The most important thing you need a carrier for is for what you don’t know is going to happen next,” Peter Daly, a retired Navy vice admiral and CEO of the U.S. Naval Institute told NBC News. “The biggest value to those carriers is that they are huge, and you have the capability to go from one stop to another, and we don’t need a permission slip from another nation when we want to fly planes.”

The Navy’s Chief of Naval Operations, Adm. John Richardson, told the Senate Armed Services Committee during his July 30 confirmation hearing that “without that carrier, there will be a detriment to our capability there.”

President Barack Obama had told “60 Minutes” on Oct. 11 that having an aircraft carrier in the Middle East was a projection of U.S. strength.

“We have enormous presence in the Middle East. We have bases and we have aircraft carriers, and our pilots are flying through those skies,” Obama said.

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