Iran Rejects Missile Test Violates UN Resolutions

TEHRAN (Dispatches) – Iran said on Saturday that its recent test launch of a long-range missile does not violate UN Security Council resolutions as claimed by the United States and France.

Date: 17 October 2015 - 21:20

News ID: ۱۹۵۷۱

"Our missile tests have nothing to do with Resolution 2231, which only mentions missiles designed to carry nuclear warheads,” Iranian Foreign Minister Muhammad Javad Zarif told a news conference.
Speaking in Tehran alongside his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier, he added: "None of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s missiles have been designed for nuclear capabilities.”
Iran announced Sunday it had successfully tested a new domestically produced long-range missile without specifying its exact range.
Defense Minister Hussein Dehqan said the new missile "can be guided and controlled until hitting the target”.
The U.S. ambassador to the UN Samantha Power on Friday claimed the missile launched by Iran is a "medium-range ballistic missile inherently capable of delivering a nuclear weapon”.
Power said the United States is preparing a report to the council committee monitoring sanctions against Iran on the missile launch.
Soon after the launch, White House press secretary Josh Earnest raised concerns, saying there were "strong indications” it violated UN sanctions.
Earnest stressed, however, that those violations are "entirely separate” from the historic nuclear deal reached between Iran and world powers.
Iran insists it has no plans to develop atomic weapons.
Zarif told the news conference that "nuclear weapons have no place in the military doctrine of Iran” and said that the missile program of the Islamic Republic does not violate UN resolutions.
Tehran’s "missile tests are by no means a violation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)”, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Seyyed Abbas Araqchi said on Friday.
"None of Iran’s missiles, including ballistic ones, have been designed to carry a nuclear warhead, and thus their production and test are not contrary to (UN Security Council) Resolution 2231,” Araqchi stressed.
On his first visit to Iran, German Foreign Minister Steinmeier urged the country to assume an active role in the pacification of the conflict in Syria.
"It is of course my wish that Iran uses its influence in the region and…on (Syrian President Bashar) Assad to ensure that we take the first steps toward a de-escalation in Syria,” Steinmeier said here, after a meeting with his Iranian counterpart.
The Iranian and German views on how this conflict could be defused aren’t congruent, Steinmeier said, but there’s a common interest to end human suffering in Syria.
Zarif reaffirmed there could only be a political solution to the conflict. "One cannot solve the conflict through military measures,” he said.
During his visit, the German foreign minister also vigorously promoted the expansion of economic ties between the two countries. He named energy and the environment as two areas of particular interest for German companies.
"Both sides would like closer cooperation and are searching for possibilities to resume their former close ties ,” said Steinmeier, adding that Germany’s industry has a high interest in "quickly exploring new opportunities” once sanctions are lifted.
"If Iran fulfills its duties the economic situation will quickly and markedly improve. And that will create room for a strong revival of our economic relations,” Steinmeier said.
Zarif said Tehran-Berlin ties are "age-old” and are based on "mutual respect and common interest”.
He said the ties "can serve as a decent model for Iran’s relations with other European countries”.
Following the press conference, the officials proceeded to attend a core group meeting of the Munich Security Conference (MSC) in Tehran.
Chaired by Wolfgang Ischinger, the chairman of the MSC, and the Iranian foreign minister, the meeting serves to address the implementation of the July 14 nuclear agreement between Iran and the six other countries, Iran’s regional role, the security architecture in the Middle East as well as the economic and energy policy implications of the Vienna agreement.
The meeting is also joined, among others, by Afghan Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani, Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, Prime Minister of Iraqi Kurdistan Region Nechirvan Idris Barzani, UN Deputy Special Envoy for Syria Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy, Deputy Secretary General of the European External Action Service Helga Schmid, President of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the French National Assembly Elisabeth Guigou, and Chairman of the German Bundestag Foreign Affairs Committee Norbert Rottgen.
The MSC has been serving as an international platform for dialog on foreign and security policy since its foundation in 1963.