Iran’s Missile Program Not in Conflict with JCPOA: Spokesman

“As Iran flouts global resolutions with its missile tests, it is foolish to think that the Obama-Kerry Iran deal will stifle the regime’s nuclear ambitions”.

Speaking from Israel, where he is discussing USA military support for Israel with top officials, Vice President Joe Biden said that if Iran broke the terms of the nuclear deal, “we will act”. The IRGC has never accepted the U.N. Security Council resolutions on Iran’s missile work. we are always ready to defend the country against any aggressor.

Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh said Iran had designed these missiles with a range of 2,000km to be able to attack its enemy from a safer distance.

The US said on Tuesday that although Iran’s recent ballistic missile tests did not violate JCPOA, the issue could be the source of concern for the West and it might be raised at the UN Security Council.

Western diplomats say resolution 2231, which “calls upon” Iran to refrain from certain ballistic missile activity, offers no green light for nuclear-capable missile launches by Tehran and is therefore a clear ban. And I want to reiterate which I know people still doubt here: “if in fact they break the deal, we will act”, Biden said. It said they were fired in Iran’s eastern Alborz mountain range to hit a target some 1,400 kilometers (870 miles) away off Iran’s coast into the Sea of Oman.

“If our interests are not met under the nuclear deal, there will be no reason for us to continue”, Abbas Araqchi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, warned during remarks delivered to a group of Iranian officials in Tehran.

Iran denies that this test was “provocative”, according to the wire service. “Israel is surrounded by Islamic countries and it will not last long in a war”.

At a daily press briefing with reporters, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said it would not be a surprise if there are additional missile launches over the next several days. That phrase–that Israel must, should, or will be wiped out–has been used and said, many, many times by Iranian leaders, popularized by an ayatollah who died in the late 1980s.

Israel’s foreign ministry “strongly condemned” the tests in a statement released Wednesday.

NPR’s Michele Kelemen says the State Department and the White House are taking a “cautious line” on the missile test.