Iran will continue with its aerospace program despite US warnings to stop, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Wednesday, according to Reuters.
Zarif stressed there was no international law prohibiting such a program.
The Iranian Foreign Minister, who is in New Delhi on a bilateral visit, also told Reuters that leaving the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers is an option available with Tehran but is not the only option on the table.
Earlier this month, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned Iran against pursuing three planned space rocket launches, nothing they would violate UN Security Council Resolution 2231, which enshrined the 2015 nuclear deal and which “calls upon” Iran to refrain from work on ballistic missiles designed to deliver nuclear weapons for up to eight years.
Zarif last week rejected Pompeo’s warnings, saying the US “is in material breach” of Resolution 2231 “and as such it is in no position to lecture anyone on it.”
When US President Donald Trump left the 2015 nuclear deal last May, he cited the agreement’s failure to deal with Iran’s ballistic missile program as one of the reasons for withdrawing.
Iran denies its ballistic missile tests violate Resolution 2231. President Hassan Rouhani has stressed that Iran will continue to produce missiles for its defense and does not consider that a violation of international agreements.
