Alwaght- A high ranking Iranian military commander has flatly rejected US Secretary of State John Kerry’s calls for missile negotiations with Tehran.
The deputy joint chief of staff of Iran’s armed forces, Brigadier General Massoud Jazayeri, on Friday said, We are stressing what has been said several times: the missile power is non-negotiable and among the red lines of the Iranian nation and for developing its defense capabilities, Iran doesn’t get permission from anybody.”
The stern reaction by Brigadier General Jazayeri on Friday came a day after Kerry suggested the US was open to a "new arrangement" with Iran for resolving the issue.
Jazayeri said Iran is "following its deterrent doctrine and defensive strategy for security independent of the will and intent of arrogant powers and aliens."
The country, he said, "will not allow anybody to interfere in this regard" and "will cut any hand which is intended to interfere in it."
Jazayeri urged Iran’s diplomatic establishment which hammered out a Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on its nuclear program “to deal firmly and transparently with the American meddling in Iranian affairs, especially in the defensive sphere.”
“The country’s diplomatic apparatus is expected to show a timely and decisive reaction to American impudence, especially by the US secretary of state,” he said.
“And by announcing strategic unity and national determination existing in the Islamic Iran for protecting, strengthening and developing defensive and missile capabilities, (it should) purge any thought of a rift and ambivalence in this regard from the minds of American officials,” he added.
Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has said missiles are key to Iran's future in the face of outside threats which have not diminished since a nuclear deal was reached last year.
“Despite the Eminent Leader’s candid stances and the unwavering demand of the Iranian nation, the Americans are apparently living with the dream of JCPOA series, one of which is to take away our defense prowess and weaken the missile power of the armed forces,” Jazayeri added.
The military chief said the Iranian nation is “a victim of American aggression and regional allies” of the United States, adding US leaders “seem intent on continuing to speak with the language of force and bullying with independent nations.”
Iran's defense minister recently said the country will not wait for permission from "others" to boost its defense capabilities after the US and its allies urge the UN to take action over Tehran's missile tests.
Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan said what constitutes Iran’s regular missile drills “is based on pre-arranged plans which are carried out in order to assess the degree of its preparedness and capabilities.”
In their recent letter to the UN chief Ban Ki-moon, the US and its three European allies stopped short of calling Iran's missile launches a "violation" of the resolution.
The tests, they claimed, were "inconsistent with" and "in defiance of" council resolution 2231, because they were "inherently capable of delivering nuclear weapons," a charge Iran vehemently denies.
Russia, a veto-wielding permanent member, has made clear it considers compliance with the appeal in resolution to be voluntary.
The Russian Foreign Ministry's Mikhail Ulyanov said Iran's test launches did not violate the UN resolution. "The resolution does not ban the tests," said Ulyanov, who is the head of the ministry's department for non-proliferation.
