No Anti-Iran Move to Remain Unanswered: FM Zarif
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif warned the Western parties to the July 2015 nuclear agreement that any measure against the Islamic Republic will be firmly responded by the country.
Speaking to the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) on Monday evening, Zarif pointed to the new US sanctions against the Islamic Republic under the pretext of its recent ballistic missile test, saying that some officials in the US are seeking to take measures against Tehran to answer the internal pressures in the country.
“We have announced that we will respond to their actions in the area of missiles through increasing our defense capabilities,” he noted.
“No measure against the Islamic Republic will remain unanswered,” the Iranian top diplomat said, adding, “In cases that we feel the other party is breaching its obligations, we will take measures that will be against their interests.”
Washington’s new sanctions on 11 companies and individuals over Iran’s testing of Emad missile in October 2015 were announced on Sunday, hours after termination of anti-Tehran embargoes following confirmations from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that Tehran had made good on its commitments under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the nuclear agreement finalized by Iran and six world powers.
The new financial sanctions by the US government were the first since Tehran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) reached the landmark nuclear agreement on July 14, 2015.
Iran has repeatedly stressed that test of missiles is an issue relating to defense of its territorial integrity and has nothing to do with the JCPOA.
Iran has also underscored frequently that its military might poses no threat to other countries and that the Islamic Republic’s defense doctrine is entirely based on deterrence.
