WASHINGTON (BLOOMBERG) – Iran test-fired a medium-range ballistic missile earlier this week that travelled 1,000km, US broadcaster CNN reported citing an unnamed US official, the latest move escalating tensions around one of the world’s most important shipping- and air-traffic corridors.

The Shabaab-3 missile didn’t pose a threat to shipping or US bases in the region, CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr tweeted, citing the official.

The US was aware of reports of a projectile launched from Iran, a senior Trump administration official told Bloomberg News, declining further comment.

The move comes amid rising tensions with Iran after attacks on tankers and drones prompted the US to call for a coalition of allies to protect ships passing through the Persian Gulf.

US President Donald Trump has withdrawn from the landmark 2015 nuclear deal and tightened sanctions on Teheran in a bid to force negotiations on what he says would be a stronger accord.

US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo told Bloomberg Television in an interview on Thursday (July 25) that he would be willing to travel to Teheran to address the Iranian public, similar to the way Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif speaks publicly during his trips to the United Nations in New York.

“Sure, if that’s the call, happily go there,” Mr Pompeo said in the interview. “I’d like a chance to go, not do propaganda but speak the truth to the Iranian people about what it is their leadership has done and how it has harmed Iran.”

Mr Trump has said he’s willing to talk with Iran, although Iran’s leaders have rejected such conversations, citing ongoing US sanctions and his abandoning the nuclear accord agreed to under the Obama administration.

But Iran has insisted its leaders won’t talk to the US as long as sanctions that Mr Trump reimposed remain in place. That’s left the two sides in a stalemate, as Iran has started to breach some of the accord’s limits on its nuclear programme.

Iran and the US have been at loggerheads since Mr Trump’s withdrawal from the nuclear agreement he called the “worst deal ever.”

In May, the administration refused to extend waivers to eight governments for Iranian oil purchases, ratcheting up the pressure on the country’s already battered economy.

Mr Trump told reporters at the White House last week that he’s in no hurry for a deal, as Iran is having “tremendous problems” because of US sanctions.

“We can do something quickly or we can take our time,” he said. “I’m in no rush.”

In the meantime, tensions continue to soar in the Persian Gulf, where Iran downed an American drone in June and the US came close to launching a retaliatory strike, though Mr Trump ultimately backed down.

Iran has since seized a British oil tanker, signalling it was in retaliation for the British seizure of a tanker carrying Iranian oil near Gibraltar.

The US and European allies – who have sought with little success to keep the nuclear accord intact – are now trying to establish separate maritime-safety initiatives that would monitor and possibly escort ships that sail through the vital waterway.

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