Iran:

Ban report based on incomplete info

Iran says a report by the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on the implementation of a nuclear deal with the country is “based on incomplete information.”

News ID: 65034

Date: 19 July 2016 - 11:19

The report by the UN secretary general claims that Iran’s ballistic missile launches "are not consistent with the constructive spirit” of the deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

The report further urges Tehran to "refrain from conducting such ballistic missile launches since they have the potential to increase tensions in the region.”

Reacting on Tuesday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told Fars News Agency, that, "The report has been compiled based on incomplete information and his (the UN chief’s) incognizance of the [nuclear] negotiations.”

Iran and the other side to the JCPOA, namely the P5+1, negotiated for 23 months before reaching the agreement.

"We have said before that the UN has had no role in writing the JCPOA, thus, as we have seen, what he (the UN chief) has done does not benefit the agreement,” Zarif said.

The United States and Russia have, likewise, denounced the UN report, saying it violates the spirit of the deal.

Iran has on various occasions asserted that the issue of its defense program is clearly excluded from the nuclear agreement.

UN Security Council Resolution 2231, which was adopted on July 20, 2015 to endorse the JCPOA, puts no limits on Iran’s missile activities and merely "calls upon” Iran to refrain from engaging in developing missiles that are "designed to be capable of” carrying nuclear warheads.

Iran says it is involved in no such missile activity and has no such warheads.