Iran blasts U.S. for possible new sanctions over missile tests

“We lack enough space in our stockpiles to house our missiles”, said General Hossein Salami, the Guards’ deputy.

Iranian missiles do not threaten the United States, and only act as a deterrent to neighbors, Brookings Institution fellow Paul R. Pillar wrote in a blog post on the National Interest.

Iranian officials are vowing to increase Iran’s missile capabilities amid reports from Washington of new sanctions against Tehran for its testing of a ballistic missile in October.

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani has ordered an expansion of the country’s ballistic missile development programme, in a move seen as a response to possible new U.S. sanctions against Iranian officials and businesses.

Senator Corker has been pressing the administration “to hold Iran accountable for its repeated illicit ballistic missile tests that violate existing U.N. Security Council (UNSC) Resolutions”.

Mr Rouhani has been less confrontational compared with supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who endorsed the nuclear accord, but warned that the United States could never be trusted and that new sanctions would be regarded as a violation. The news came amid reports of initial pushback from Iranian leaders. A United Nations Security Council resolution approved in 2010 and would be in invalid when the Iran nuclear deal goes into effect, bans Iran from conducting ballistic tests.

“If [the] USA continues its illegitimate interference [with] Iran’s right to defend itself a new program will be devised to enhance missile capabilities”, Mr. Rouhani tweeted.

The Treasury Department is also preparing to sanction five Iranian defense officials for work on the ballistic-missile program, the newspaper said. Those frictions appear to have doused any hopes of reconciliation in the near future despite the worldwide agreement restricting Iran’s nuclear activities reached previous year, which required close collaboration by diplomats from the two countries.

Iran has abided by the main terms of the nuclear deal, which require it to give up material that world powers feared could be used to make an atomic weapon and accept other restrictions on its nuclear program. He said the delay was not a result of pressure from Tehran.

“‘We will vigorously press ahead with the development of missile capabilities within the framework of the country’s defense policies”, brigadier general Hossein Dehqan was quoted as saying by Tasnim news agency.

Senator Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, issued the following statement Friday regarding reports of the Obama administration backing away from plans earlier this week to impose sanctions on a number of Iranians and entities involved in Iran’s ballistic missile program.