Iran not to accept linking defense power with nuclear talks

Ali Bagheri Kani, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister and the chief negotiator in Vienna said in an interview with Russia Today that pursuing the development of the defense capabilities is Iran’s right and no country preserves the right to talk about Iran’s missile capabilities. His remarks were an apparent reference to the US attempt to link the Iranian defensive capabilities with the Vienna talks on the revival of the JCPOA. 

The deputy foreign minister told RT that Iran develops its defensive capabilities to defend itself and secure its national interests.

No other country has the right to talk about the capabilities and things that another country has to defend its national interests, Ali Bagheri Kani said.

Basically, Iran’s defense capability is Iran’s national decision and is related to Iran’s national interests and security, so no country has the right to speak or comment on it, he further noted.

He also recalled a fatwa by the Leader of the Islamic Republic which has banned possession of nuclear arms as forbidden in Islam, stressing that Iran’s defense power is based on conventional weapons rather than nuclear ones.

Elsewhere, the deputy FM said that the main topic of the talks with the P4+1 is the removal of the oppressive sanctions on Tehran.