Iran’s Missile Program Not for Negotiations

(FNA)- Iran's defense minister strongly rejected his US counterpart Chuck Hagel's demand that Iran's missile program should come under negotiation in talks between Tehran and the world powers, and asked for the opposite.

"Iran's missile capability is defensive, conventional and deterrent and not negotiable," Dehqan underlined in response to Hagel's comments that the negotiations between Iran and the world powers should focus on the country's missile program after the settlement of the disputes over Tehran's nuclear program.

He said if any issue is due to be discussed after the nuclear talks, it should be the full annihilation of the Zionist regime's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons to create a Middle-East free from the Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs) followed by the destruction of the nuclear, chemical and biological weapons of the United States as the first country which has used these "dreadful weapons".

"We ask our nuclear negotiators to focus their utmost efforts on the complete annihilation of the Zionist regime's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons as the biggest danger posed to the region and world security as well as the US nuclear disarmament based on paragraph 6 of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) alongside their negotiations with the Group 5+1 (the US, Russia, China, Britain and France plus Germany)," Dehqan said.

He expressed pleasure that the Zionist regime is concerned about Iran's deterrent power, and said if such deterrence didn’t exist, the usurper regime would seize control of the Middle-East through war and bloodshed.

Dehqan underlined that it is a shame for the US which claims to be a superpower that its defense secretary announces "Israelis have allowed us to find a way to exit from (the deadlock over) Iran's nuclear issue".

In relevant remarks last Sunday, Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei said the western states' demand for restricting Iran's missile capability is foolish.

"They expect Iran to limit its missile program while they continue posing military threats against Iran, and hence, such an expectation is foolish and silly," Ayatollah Khamenei said during a tour of the exhibition of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force.

The Supreme Leader reiterated that the irrational statements of the western countries in their talks with Iran indicate their complete failure vis-à-vis the Iranian nation.

"The IRGC Aerospace Force should precisely advance its works and plans and should not be satisfied with its status quo," Ayatollah Khamenei said.

The Supreme Leader underlined that the IRGC Aerospace Force should mass produce its products, and said, "This issue is a duty and all military officials should channel their efforts onto this path and government officials should also view this as among their main duties."

In recent years, Iran has made great achievements in its defense sector and attained self-sufficiency in developing and manufacturing its essential needs to military tools, weapons, equipment and systems.

Tehran launched an arms development program during the 1980-88 Iraqi imposed war on Iran to compensate for a US weapons embargo. Since 1992, Iran has produced its own tanks, armored personnel carriers, missiles and fighter planes.

Yet, Iranian officials have always stressed that the country's military and arms programs serve defensive purposes and should not be perceived as a threat to any other country.