PHOTO: Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi “Iran has not developed missiles to carry nuclear warheads”
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The Iranian Government has repeated that it will not give way to US pressure to halt tests of ballistic missiles.
Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on State TV on Saturday night, “During the [nuclear] negotiations, we never allowed [the 5+1 Powers] to raise the issue of our country’s missile [program], because no wise individual will negotiate over his country’s security.”
Araqchi said that, because there is no evidence that the missiles can carry nuclear warheads, the test do not violate a UN Security Council resolution passed at the time of the July 2015 nuclear agreement.
Following another set of tests in early March, the US, Britain, France, and Germany have said that they will take the matter to the Security Council. Washington has also imposed sanctions on more Iranian individuals and entities connected to the Revolutionary Guards.
The two sides also clashed in December over the testing. On both occasions, the Supreme Leader, President Rouhani, and Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan have emphasized that Iran will continue missile development.
The issue is now adding to pressure on the nuclear agreement and the Supreme Leader’s warning that Iran will not negotiate with the US and will pursue self-sufficiency through the “Resistance Economy”.
Last weekend, at the start of the Iranian New Year, Ayatollah Khamenei publicly rebuffed Rouhani’s declaration that the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Agreement will be followed with the post-sanctions recovery of a “JCPOA 2”. Khamenei said that there will be “no JCPOA 2, 3, and 4” which concedes to American pressure and dishonesty.
Larijani: President’s Austria Trip Was Not Cancelled Because of Economic Issues
Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani has denied that President Rouhani’s trip to Austria last week was cancelled because of tensions over Iran’s economy and the lifting of sanctions.
The cancellation came after Austrian President Heinz Fisher told Iranian State TV that he could not give a timetable for the removal of the US and European Union sanctions.
The Iranian Government said the decision was made for “security reasons”.
See Iran Daily, March 20: Did Regime In-Fighting Cancel President Rouhani’s Trip to Austria?
Larijani’s intervention on Saturday was a response to the Austrian Government’s denial of any security threat.
The Speaker said that Vienna was only referring to the Islamic State, and that the real threat was a planned rally by the “terrorist” Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO), which has sought the overthrow of the Islamic Republic since 1980.
“Maybe the Austrian President meant their country is secure from Daesh [the Islamic State], but the issue was covered differently by domestic media and negatively affected the public mind,” Larijani said.
