Iran unveils a 2000 km range ballistic missile, Rouhani says will boost missile capabilities
Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported on Friday that the country had unveiled a new ballistic missile with range of 2,000 km
Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported on Friday that the country had unveiled a new ballistic missile with range of 2,000 km (1,200 miles), capable of carrying several warheads.
The report, which gave few other details, quoted the head of the Revolutionary Guards’ aerospace division, Amirali Hajizadeh, speaking on the sidelines of a military parade in Tehran.
Iran will strengthen its missile capabilities and will not seek permission from any country to do so, President Hassan Rouhani said on Friday in an undisguised snub to demands by U.S. President Donald Trump.
At the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday, Trump said Iran was building its missile capability and accused it exporting violence to Yemen, Syria and other parts of the Middle East.
He also criticised the 2015 pact that the United States and six other powers struck with Iran under which Tehran agreed to restrict its nuclear programme in return for relief from economic sanctions.
In a speech broadcast on state television, Rouhani said: “We will increase our military power as a deterrent. We will strengthen our missile capabilities ... We will not seek permission from anyone to defend our country.
“All countries in the world supported the nuclear deal in the United Nations General Assembly this year ... except the United States and the Zionist regime (Israel),” Rouhani said.
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has said that the agreement must be changed or the United States could not stick with it. Iran has said its nuclear accord cannot be renegotiated.
The prospect of Washington reneging on the deal has worried some of the U.S. allies that helped negotiate it, especially as the world grapples with North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile development.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said tensions on the Korean peninsula underlined the importance of the Iranian deal, and that China would continue to support it.
Trump put Iran “on notice” in February for test-firing a ballistic missile and imposed new economic sanctions in July over its missile programme and “malign activities” in the Middle East.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday that the U.S. imposition of unilateral sanctions on Iran was “illegitimate and undermines the collective nature of international efforts.”