IRGC Chief Major General Jafari:
Iran Has Ability to Increase Missile Range
TEHRAN (Dispatches) - Iran has no plans to extend the range of its missiles since their 2,000-km (1,240-mile) reach is enough to protect the country, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) commander said on Tuesday.
Iran’s government again ruled out negotiations with U.S. President Donald Trump over Tehran’s military capabilities and regional influence, saying that such talks would be against the values of the Islamic Republic.
Trump withdrew the United States last month from the 2015 accord between Iran and world powers that curbed Tehran’s nuclear energy program in exchange for sanctions relief.
He said the deal was deeply flawed as it had not curbed Iran’s ballistic missile program or reined in its influence in the region, pledging that Washington would reimpose tough sanctions on Tehran.
"We have the scientific ability to increase our missile range but it is not our current policy since most of the enemies’ strategic targets are already within this 2,000-km range. This range is enough to protect the Islamic Republic...,” Major General Muhammad Ali Jafari was quoted as saying by Tasnim news agency.
Jafari said previous negotiations with the United States about Iran’s nuclear program were "an exception”, and called Iranian politicians and activists who have favored fresh talks with Trump as "traitors and anti-revolutionaries”.
On Saturday, over 100 activists associated with the moderate and reformist camps in Iranian politics welcomed Trump’s deal with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un envisaging a complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.
In a statement published by Iranian media, the activists urged Tehran to start direct negotiations with Washington "with no preconditions” to resolve decades of enmity between the two countries dating to Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Jafari rejected their call. "The North Korean leader was a revolutionary but a communist, not an Islamic one. That is why he surrendered, but we will not do the same,” he was quoted by the Fars news agency as saying.
Iranian government spokesman Muhammad Bagher Nobakht echoed Jafari’s remarks. "There are no grounds or logic to talk to such a person (Trump). Public opinion would not welcome that either,” Nobakht was quoted as saying by ISNA news agency.
Jafari said previously that the range of Iran’s ballistic missiles was based on limits set by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, who commands the armed forces.
Iran’s government again ruled out negotiations with U.S. President Donald Trump over Tehran’s military capabilities and regional influence, saying that such talks would be against the values of the Islamic Republic.
Trump withdrew the United States last month from the 2015 accord between Iran and world powers that curbed Tehran’s nuclear energy program in exchange for sanctions relief.
He said the deal was deeply flawed as it had not curbed Iran’s ballistic missile program or reined in its influence in the region, pledging that Washington would reimpose tough sanctions on Tehran.
"We have the scientific ability to increase our missile range but it is not our current policy since most of the enemies’ strategic targets are already within this 2,000-km range. This range is enough to protect the Islamic Republic...,” Major General Muhammad Ali Jafari was quoted as saying by Tasnim news agency.
Jafari said previous negotiations with the United States about Iran’s nuclear program were "an exception”, and called Iranian politicians and activists who have favored fresh talks with Trump as "traitors and anti-revolutionaries”.
On Saturday, over 100 activists associated with the moderate and reformist camps in Iranian politics welcomed Trump’s deal with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un envisaging a complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.
In a statement published by Iranian media, the activists urged Tehran to start direct negotiations with Washington "with no preconditions” to resolve decades of enmity between the two countries dating to Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Jafari rejected their call. "The North Korean leader was a revolutionary but a communist, not an Islamic one. That is why he surrendered, but we will not do the same,” he was quoted by the Fars news agency as saying.
Iranian government spokesman Muhammad Bagher Nobakht echoed Jafari’s remarks. "There are no grounds or logic to talk to such a person (Trump). Public opinion would not welcome that either,” Nobakht was quoted as saying by ISNA news agency.
Jafari said previously that the range of Iran’s ballistic missiles was based on limits set by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, who commands the armed forces.