Envoy: Iran’s Ballistic Missile Tests Not in Violation of UN Resolution
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran’s Ambassador to the United Nations Gholam Ali Khoshroo reiterated the deterrent nature of the country’s recent ballistic missile tests, saying they by no means contravened the UN resolution which endorsed the July 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers.
In a letter to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Friday, Khoshroo vehemently rejected claims by certain Western states that the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps’ (IRGC) recent missile drill has violated the UN Security Council Resolution 2231.
Iran’s legitimate and conventional military activities have not been banned in that resolution, the envoy said in the letter, adding that international laws also permit such activities.
He stressed that the missile tests were “part of efforts by the country’s Armed Forces to strengthen its legitimate defense capabilities”.
The letter came after a missile exercise by the IRGC earlier this month raised hue and cry in the West.
The IRGC Aerospace Division test-fired a number of advanced ballistic missiles with pin-point accuracy in the drill.
IRGC Commander Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari had already described the message of the missile drill as security for Iran and its neighboring countries.
On March 14, the UN Security Council convened a session to study the issue, but said in a statement that it needed more technical information to determine whether or not the launches were a breach of a UNSC resolution that was approved after the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) on July 14, 2015, signed the JCPOA, a 159-page nuclear agreement that terminated all sanctions imposed on Tehran over its nuclear energy program.
Afterwards, the 15-memebr United Nations Security Council passed a resolution that endorsed the JCPOA.
Resolution 2231 calls upon Iran “not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons.”
Iranian officials have time and again affirmed that none of the country’s missiles have been designed to be capable of carrying nuclear warheads, because nuclear weapons have basically no place in Iran’s defense doctrine.
