Iran says ballistic missile test not a violation of nuclear pact

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Iran says ballistic missile test not a violation of nuclear pact

Tehran - "The missile issue is not part of the nuclear deal."

By AP

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Published: Tue 31 Jan 2017, 9:36 PM

Last updated: Tue 31 Jan 2017, 11:40 PM

Iran's foreign minister on Tuesday refused to confirm whether his country recently conducted a missile test, saying the Iranian missile programme is not part of the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.
The White House said on Monday that it is studying the details of an Iranian ballistic missile test. During a joint news conference with visiting French counterpart Jean-Marc Ayrault on Tuesday, Foreign Minister Javad Zarif was asked if Iran had conducted a recent missile test.
"The missile issue is not part of the nuclear deal. As all signatories to the nuclear deal have announced, the missile issue is not a part of" the deal, he said.
Iran's missiles, he added are, "not designed for the capability of carrying a nuclear warhead.
Our ballistic missile was designed to carry a normal warhead in the field of legitimate defence".
A US defence official said on Monday that the missile test ended with a "failed" reentry into earth's atmosphere. The official had no other details, including the type of missile. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the US was looking into whether the ballistic missile test violates a 2015 United Nations Security Council resolution.
Zarif on Tuesday said he hopes the issue is not used as, "an excuse for some political games by the new US administration. The Irani-an people would never allow their defence to be subject to the permis-sion of others".
Iran has long boasted of having missiles that can travel 2,000km, placing much of the Middle East, including Israel, in range. Iran says its missiles are the key to deterring a US or Israeli attack.In a video posted on his Facebook page on Monday, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he planned to discuss Iran in his upcoming meeting with President Donald Trump in Washington.
"I intend to raise with him the renewal of sanctions against Iran, sanctions against the ballistic mis-siles and additional sanctions against terror and also to take care of this failed nuclear agreement," Netanyahu said.
In May 2016, Iran's defence minister Hossein Dehghan issued a vague denial after a media outlet close to the Revolutionary Guard reported that the country had test-fired a ballistic missile with a 2,000km range.
The powerful Revolutionary Guard is in charge of Iran's ballistic missile programme.Dehghan said that no missile had been tested "with the range that was published in the media", but he did not deny that a ballistic missile had been tested.


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