“They don’t get a say in who we impose sanctions on”. The revelation comes after President Hassan Rouhani ordered the expansion of his country’s ballistic missiles in response to potential USA sanctions.
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“It is necessary to follow, more seriously and with high speed, the production of different kinds of missiles within the framework of the defensive policies”, Rouhani said.
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Defence Minister Hossein Dehqan said Iran would boost its missile program and had never agreed to restrictions on it.
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“Iran’s missile capabilities have never been the subject of negotiations with the Americans and will never be”, he was quoted as saying by Press TV, an Iranian state channel.
In October, Iran announced the tests of long-range Emad missile which could be guided and controlled until hitting the target with high precision.
The threat of new sanctions – the nuclear deal is due to lift past measures that froze Iran out of the global financial system and crippled its oil exports – brought already worsening relations to a head.
According to Pillar, Iran’s development of missiles is linked to the 1980s Iran-Iraq war, in which cities on both sides were routinely hit with ballistic missiles. A United Nations Security Council resolution approved in 2010 and would be in invalid when the Iran nuclear deal goes into effect, bans Iran from conducting ballistic tests.
Dehqan also said the October test was based on Iran’s own interests for enhancement of its deterrent power.
Tehran is believed to have the largest ballistic missile arsenal in the Middle East and has developed a 2,000 km missile.
In his letter to the president, Rezayee reminded that when the United States took hostile measures against Iran’s nuclear program and Tehran, in response, took an offensive move and increased the number of centrifuges to 20,000, the USA was forced to come to the negotiating table and recognize Iran’s nuclear enrichment rights.
Meanwhile, implementation of the nuclear deal between Iran and world powers was on track after Iran shipped its stockpile of low enriched uranium out of the country, though it still had many other important things to complete, Rhodes said.
Also this month, after a 12-year investigation of Iran’s suspected nuclear plans, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) made a decision to close the process in light of the nuclear deal. “All our depots and underground facilities are full”, he added during Friday prayers in Tehran.
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An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said earlier Thursday that Iran considered any new US sanctions on its ballistic-missile program illegal and would respond accordingly.
