“Regarding defense and missile issues, the Islamic Republic of Iran has a crystal clear stance,” Jaberi Ansari told reporters at his weekly press briefing in Tehran on Monday May 9.
During all rounds of nuclear negotiations with world powers, the other side insisted on including the issue of Iran’s missile program in the talks, which was always rejected by the Iranian negotiating team, the spokesman added.
“This is the Islamic Republic of Iran’s firm policy,” he said, adding that the repetition of old posturing and policies by the other party to the nuclear agreement would not make Tehran change its missile policy.
He further said that the Iranian nation has proved its policies are of defensive nature and that Iran has never invaded any country over the past two centuries.
The remarks came after Deputy Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Brigadier General Ali Abdollahi announced that Iran had test-fired a high-precision ballistic missile with a range of 2000 kilometres which is accurate to within 8 metres.
“Two weeks ago, we test-fired a missile with a range of 2000 kilometres and a margin of error of eight metres,” Abdollahi said at a scientific conference in Tehran on Monday, adding that this margin means that the missile has an error rate of zero.
Iranian officials have repeatedly underscored that the country will not hesitate to strengthen its military capabilities, including its missile power, which are entirely meant for defense, and that Iran’s defense capabilities will be never subject to negotiation.
IFP: This ongoing missile story (the test launch of a 2000km-range ordnance) has been announced and subsequently denied by different parties.
The original announcement by Brigadier General Ali Abdollahi, the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, was covered here.
Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan later refuted those claims, which was covered here.
