Iran raps new US sanctions, says missile program legitimate

By  Trend

In response to a US Senate legislation that authorizes new sanctions on Tehran, Iran has said its missile program is absolutely legitimate and has nothing to do with the UN Resolution 2231, the Foreign Ministry’s website reported June 16.

The Resolution 2231, passed by the 15-member United Nations Security Council in July 2015, is an endorsement of Iran’s nuclear deal, aka the JCPOA.

The resolution calls upon Iran “not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons.”

However, in a recent move, the US Senate passed a bill that grants the government to impose new sanctions on Iran for its ballistic missile program.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry said on Friday that the country is going to take “reciprocal and proportionate” measures in retaliation to the bill the US Senate has passed to impose new sanctions on Tehran.

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi reminded the US government of its commitments under the JCPOA.

“As the Islamic Republic of Iran has fully met its [JCPOA] commitments so far and the International Atomic Energy Agency has also confirmed this several times, all parties to the JCPOA are duty-bound to honor their commitments completely,” he added.