Diplomat Refutes Negotiation on Iran’s Missile Program

In comments on Thursday, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Seyyed Abbas Araqchi said Iran will not negotiate its missile program with the foreigners by any means.

Rejecting plans for renegotiating the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, he said one of the lessons Iran has learnt from the JCPOA was that the nuclear deal and commitment to it have apparently resulted in the imposition of new sanctions against Tehran.

There is still an opportunity to save the nuclear deal, provided that the other parties honor their commitments, Araqchi added.

“The other lesson that we learnt (from the JCPOA) is that resistance works better than willingness for cooperation,” he noted, warning that if the sanctions on Iran continue, Tehran may have to change its approach as well.

“Europe must make more sacrifices (to save the JCPOA). Everything has a price… Europe has proved that it is either unable or unwilling to resist the US domination of (its) financial system,” he added.

The deputy minister also noted that it is natural for people of a country to be dissatisfied with the policies of a government, saying such anti-government protests occur in Paris every Saturday.

Araqchi emphasized that nobody would agree on violence or torching the public buildings amid the protests.