Speaking at a joint press conference with his German counterpart in Tehran on Saturday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif made it clear that the country’s missile tests have nothing to do with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
His comments came a week after Iran successfully test-fired a ballistic missile dubbed ‘Emad’, a long-range guided projectile that can hit targets with high precision.
The foreign minister underscored that the JCPOA, a lasting nuclear deal between Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany), "has made no mention of the missiles."
Iran and the Group 5+1 (also known as the P5+1 or E3+3) on July 14 reached a conclusion on a 159-page nuclear agreement that would terminate all sanctions imposed on Tehran over its nuclear energy program after coming into force.
Afterwards, the 15-memebr United Nations Security Council passed a resolution that endorsed the JCPOA.
Elsewhere in his comments, Zarif noted that Iran “seriously believes that its missile tests have nothing to do with the Resolution 2231 either.”
Resolution 2231 calls upon Iran "not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons.”
The foreign minister reaffirmed that none of the Iranian missiles have been designed to be capable of carrying nuclear warheads, because the nuclear weapons have basically no place in Iran’s defense doctrine.
“Iran’s missile program, which is for legitimate defense of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, has no relation with those resolution” passed by the UN, he underlined.
The foreign minister also dismissed the comments by US President Barack Obama, who vowed at a news conference at the White House on Friday to continue to enforce sanctions on Iran’s ballistic missile program.
Zarif then slammed the US government as one of the biggest violators of human rights in the Middle East region, and took a swipe at Washington for supporting the Zionist regime of Israel.
He noted that the US officials’ recurring allegations against Iran will just further taint their image among the Iranian people.