Iran Has Right to Develop Missile Program

There is no reason to criticize Iran’s moves to develop its missile program, Ryabkov told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday, according Russian local reports.

The Russian deputy foreign minister said launching satellites should be distinguished from ballistic missiles aimed at destroying targets, as technologies used in them are totally different, Interfax reported.

“Iran is never doing an action contradicting international regulations when it tests its missiles”, Ryabkov reiterated, adding that Resolution 2231 has not considered any ban on using ballistic missiles’ technologies for Iran and it has only demanded that Tehran should avoid launching missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

“All the experts know that satellite carriers and non-nuclear surface-to-surface ballistic missiles are different structurally from missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads,” the Russian deputy foreign minister said.

“Therefore, criticizing Iran for its missile program is wrong and we know it is an irresponsible move, as it leads the global community astray purposefully and knowingly.”

Iranian officials have time and again underscored 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.

Iran on Tuesday launched a domestically-built satellite into space with an aim to collect environmental information to boost the country's forecasting system; however, technical problems that occurred during the final stage of the launch prevented the spacecraft from reaching orbit.

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