Tabnak – Like every year, the nation-wide celebrations in Iran to mark the anniversary of the Islamic Republic became a venue for the high-ranking Iranian officials to declare the nation’s positions on some key issues, most importantly the nuclear deal and missile program.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Sunday that Tehran is committed to its obligations under the nuclear deal reached between Iran and P5+1 (US, UK, Russia, China, France plus Germany) in 2015.
“Our nation is committed to its obligations till the time that the other side is bound to its obligations but if they aim to exit, they will be harmed,” President Rouhani said to a gathering of people who attended rallies to mark the 39th anniversary of Iran's Islamic Revolution in the capital, Tehran.
In separate remarks yesterday, Rouhani said the United States will make a "big strategic mistake" if it decides to pull out of the 2015 multilateral agreement on Tehran’s nuclear program.
Speaking during a meeting with a group of ambassadors and heads of foreign organizations in Tehran on Saturday, Rouhani added that the world would see that Washington's withdrawal from the nuclear deal, would be the "US’ biggest folly in its political relations with the world and particularly with our region."
He emphasized that Iran has never violated its commitments under the JCPOA and expressed hope the nuclear deal would remain solid and turn into an appropriate model of solving regional and international issues. Rouhani said Iran would not be the first to violate the landmark accord, but added that it has appropriate plans should the US move to exit the JCPOA.
As the missile program has recently become another excuse for the western powers to impose pressure Iran, another senior Iranian official reiterated the Islamic Republic's “legitimate” right to use missiles for its defense, saying the country does not need permission from any state to bolster its missile program.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran will not seek anybody's permission to develop its missile capabilities and will use missiles in any way and quantity it deems necessary, and this is a legitimate right of Iran," Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior adviser to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei on international affairs, told reporters in Tehran.
He added that negotiations about Iran's missile capabilities were not in conformity with the Islamic Republic's stance.
Iran's Ambassador to London was another official who took position on the issue, saying that the nuclear deal between Iran and the world powers denied the West a pretext to pressure Iran, so Washington is now trying to use the missile issue as a new leverage.
The stance of the US President Donald Trump on the nuclear deal is an example of the country's hostile approach towards Iran, Hamid Baeedinejad said in a ceremony marking Islamic Revolution's anniversary in London on Saturday night.
These remarks come amid US President Donald Trump's constant efforts to link Iran's missile program to the 2015 multilateral nuclear agreement, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
The United States has repeatedly claimed that Iran’s missile program is in violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2231, which endorses the JCPOA.
