TEHRAN: Iran\u2019s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Wednesday that the country\u2019s missiles are \u201cdefensive in nature,\u201d rejecting President Donald Trump\u2019s claim that Tehran is developing a missile capable of reaching the US mainland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In an interview with Indian news channel India Today, Araghchi said the Iranian missiles are \u201cpurely for deterrence\u201d and meant to defend the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In his State of the Union address on Tuesday, Trump said he is considering military action if Iran refuses to abandon its nuclear program and long-range ballistic missile program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve already developed missiles that can threaten Europe and our bases overseas and they\u2019re working to build missiles that will soon reach the United States of America,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey were warned to make no future attempts to rebuild their weapons program, in particular nuclear weapons. \u2026 They want to start all over again and are at this moment pursuing their sinister ambitions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Responding to Trump\u2019s remarks, Araghchi said the US president himself has \u201cbecome a victim of fake news.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He asserted that Iran is not developing missiles capable of reaching the US mainland, adding that Iran\u2019s armed forces have \u201cdeliberately limited\u201d the range of indigenous missiles to 2,000 kilometres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is solely for our own defense. Our missiles are defensive in nature; they are built purely for deterrence and to help us defend ourselves \u2014 exactly as they did last June,\u201d he said, referring to the US-backed Israeli attack on Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The top diplomat stressed that Iran did not initiate last year\u2019s war with Israel, but Tel Aviv and Washington who attacked the country, resulting in the killing of several top military commanders and nuclear scientists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe only defended ourselves. From their perspective, it may be considered an illegal act, but from our point of view, it was a legitimate act within the framework of self-defense,\u201d Araghchi said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Iranian delegation, led by Araghchi, left Tehran for Geneva on Wednesday to take part in the third round of indirect nuclear negotiations with the United States on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
– Balanced deal<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The top diplomat said it is possible to achieve \u201ca fair, balanced, and just agreement,\u201d adding that the Iranian armed forces are prepared to defend the country in the event of war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Iran \u201clearned many lessons\u201d from the June war and is therefore \u201cmore prepared,\u201d he said, stressing that this heightened readiness is aimed at \u201cpreventing war.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen you are ready for war, you can prevent it; otherwise, you invite it into your home. So we are fully prepared, not because we seek war, but because we want to prevent it,\u201d Araghchi said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He reiterated that there is \u201cno military option\u201d for Iran\u2019s nuclear program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are ready to answer questions. We are ready to remove concerns. But we are not prepared to give up our right to the peaceful use of nuclear technology. This is our position and our demand,\u201d Araghchi said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTherefore, I believe there is an opportunity tomorrow in Geneva to reach a mutually agreed, fair, and balanced solution.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tehran and Washington have held two rounds of indirect talks so far since nuclear diplomacy resumed last month, with the third round scheduled to take place in Geneva on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Following the previous round in Geneva, both sides offered a positive overall assessment, agreeing on guiding principles expected to pave the way toward a potential agreement.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TEHRAN: Iran\u2019s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Wednesday that the country\u2019s missiles are \u201cdefensive in nature,\u201d rejecting President Donald Trump\u2019s claim that Tehran is developing a missile capable of reaching the US mainland. In an interview with Indian news channel India Today, Araghchi said the Iranian missiles are \u201cpurely for deterrence\u201d and meant to […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":11355,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[396,73],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest","category-security"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11354"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11354"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11354\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}