In developing the program, Iran will observe its “international commitments, without entering the field of nuclear warheads or designing missiles capable of carrying such warheads”, the spokesman added.
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Vice President Biden, speaking Wednesday at a news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, said if Iran breaks the terms of last year’s nuclear deal it reached with world powers, “we will act”.
The Qadr-H missile has a range of 1,700 kilometers, while the Qadr-F missile has a range of about 2,000 kilometers. The U.N. missile restrictions and an arms embargo on Iran are not technically part of the nuclear agreement.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard test-launched several ballistic missiles on Tuesday and Wednesday, including some from launcher trucks tucked in the Alborz mountain range in the north of the country, hitting targets almost 900 miles away in the southeastern Makran area.
Republican and some Democrats in Congress called on Tuesday for stronger measures, in light of the sanctions and a UNSC resolution calling upon on Iran to refrain from such tests. “But there is no need to fire missiles to destroy the Zionist regime as it will gradually collapse”.
Iran’s foreign ministry rejected reports about phone talk between Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his U.S. counterpart John Kerry on Tehran’s recent missile tests.
Israel’s foreign ministry declined to immediately comment.
A US State Department spokesman claimed on Wednesday that the two sides had discussed the issue earlier in the day. He did not have additional details about the call.
IRGC has dozens of short and medium-range ballistic missiles, marking the largest stock in the Middle East, Reuters informed.
The nuclear accord was a victory for Iran’s moderate president, Hassan Rouhani, over hard-liners who sharply opposed reining in the nuclear program. In the time since the deal, however, hard-liners in Iran’s military have made several shows of strength. “These missile launches constitute a blatant violation of Iran’s UN Security Council obligations, and such violations must have consequences”. Tehran has also said that none of its missiles are created to carry nuclear weapons.
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A US senior official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the Obama administration was aware of the latest tests and that it would take the appropriate response, both unilaterally and at the United Nations. “Our main enemy is the United States”, he said.
