23 September, 2017
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has pledged to strengthen the country's missile program.
Iran's Revolutionary Guard on Friday showed off its latest ballistic missile capable of reaching much of the Middle East, including Israel, while the country's president vowed that Teheran would press ahead with its missile programme in defiance of USA demands to the contrary.
Iran unveiled the ballistic missile Friday as its president stepped up pressure on the United States by defending its right to strengthen military defenses.
Criticism by the Donald Trump administration of a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and major powers, including the United States, has focused heavily on Tehran's continuing missile programme.
It was mainly a procedural move, but it was significant since reimposing nuclear-related sanctions could lead Iran to end its compliance with the deal and revert back to rapid uranium enrichment - something it's threatened to do if the United States reneges.
"We will increase our military power as a deterrent".
Rouhani said that the country will boost its military capabilities, from missiles to ground, air and sea forces. "We will defend the downtrodden people of Yemen, Syria, and Palestine whether you like it or not", he added. In Syria, Iran is a close ally of President Bashar Assad.
- Trump recently called Iran a bogus nation of dictators hiding behind the mask of Democracy.
Speaking a day later, Rouhani said the Iranian people are waiting for an apology from Trump for his "extremely offensive" rhetoric and "unfounded" allegations about Iran. If, as now appears increasingly likely, he decides that it is not, it could open the way for renewed U.S. sanctions and perhaps the collapse of the agreement.
The deal, Rouhani said, is supported by his government and the five other parties - Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany - that signed the agreement.
The ballistic missile is capable of carrying multiple warheads, Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, a senior commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Division, told the media on Friday.
The agency did not provide further information.
The prospect of Washington reneging on the deal has anxious some of the US allies that helped negotiate it, especially as the world grapples with North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile development. Tehran says that the missiles are entirely legitimate under the terms of the deal as they are not created to carry a nuclear warhead.
