Tabnak – As the fate of Iran’s nuclear deal and how will Donald Trump administration deal with it has become a very controversial subject for international debates, some western media are trying to increase pressures on Iran by spreading false reports about other aspects of Iran’s domestic and foreign policies. Iranian missile program has appeared to be the most important target for such debates.
Reuters published a report on Friday quoting unnamed Iranian and Western officials as saying that Iran has signaled to the six world powers with which it signed the historic nuclear agreement in 2015 that it is open to talks about its ballistic missile arsenal.
Shortly after the publication of the report, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi rejected the claim, saying that the Islamic Republic’s missile program is for defensive purposes and is not open to any negotiations.
"Iran regards defensive missile programs as its absolute right and will definitely continue them within the framework of its defensive, conventional and specified plans and strategies,” the Iranian spokesperson said.
Iran has repeatedly and openly announced its stance on the matter in diplomatic meetings with foreign officials, including the interviews and talks held by Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif during his recent visit to New York, Qassemi was quoted as saying by the Foreign Ministry’s website.
Iran has repeatedly announced that its missile program is not against Security Council Resolution 2231 that endorsed the nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), reached between the Islamic Republic and the P5+1 group of countries in 2015.
In relevant remarks in early July, Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Shamkhani stressed that the country has increased its deterrence and defense power by developing different state-of-the-art missiles.
"Iran's indigenized missile power has been developing for years based on the country's need to create a deterrence power," Shamkhani told reporters in the Northeastern city of Mashhad.
Noting that Iran has reinvigorated the precision-striking power, range and destruction power of its missile throughout years, he said, "Today, it (the missile program) is considered as one of the pillars of the Islamic Republic of Iran's power."
It should be noted that During his speech at the UN General Assembly on September 19, Trump described the JCPOA as "the worst and most one-sided transaction Washington has ever entered into,” a characterization he often used during his presidential campaign. Thus, it seems that the new emphasis on Iran’s missile program is in fact an excuse for Trump to exit the nuclear deal.
However, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani underlined on Saturday that the achievements of nuclear deal are irreversible. "We attained certain benefits in the nuclear talks and by the nuclear deal, and no one can reverse them; neither Trump nor 10 other Trumps, these are irreversible. We displayed our political power to the world in the nuclear talks," President Rouhani said, addressing Iranian university students in Tehran.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is fresh from verifying Iran's compliance with the deal as recently as last month, while other parties to the agreement are also on board, except the US leader.
