Zarif: Iran’s Missile Tests Don’t Violate Nuclear Deal

Local Editor

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Tuesday from Australia that Tehran's recent ballistic missile tests did not violate a UN resolution and were not illegal.

According to Zarif, under Resolution 2231, adopted a few days after Iran struck a landmark nuclear deal with world powers last year, Tehran was within its rights to carry out the tests.

He said the wording of the resolution did not use obligatory terms so "Iran is not obliged by 2231."

Secondly, it covered only missiles "designed to be capable of carrying nuclear warheads," he told reporters in Canberra.

"Since we do not have nuclear warheads and we have undertaken not to develop them, and the international community has put in place the best mechanisms money can buy in order to make sure that we do not develop nuclear weapons... we do not design any missiles to carry things we do not have," Zarif said.

Relatively, Iran fired two long-range ballistic missiles on March 9, one day after similar tests that came fewer than two months after the Iran nuclear deal was implemented.

In the context, Zarif further stressed that the missiles were being developed only for Iran's defense.

Under the historic nuclear deal, most UN sanctions resolutions against Tehran were lifted, but an arms embargo and restrictions on ballistic missile technology remain in force.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team