RT
Iran has announced it has successfully test-fired two ballistic missiles capable of “great destruction” ahead of new nuclear talks with world powers. However, the so-called defense-related “red line” is not expected to be discussed at the meeting.
“The new generation of long-range ground-to-ground ballistic missile with a fragmentation warhead and the laser-guided air-to-surface and surface-to-surface missile dubbed Bina [Insightful] have been successfully test-fired,” state television quoted Defense Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan as saying.
Dehqan said that one of the weapons tested is a long-range missile with radar-evading capabilities, designed to cause a “great destruction.”
“The Bina missile is capable of striking important targets such as bridges, tanks and enemy command centers with great precision,” he said.
Iran’s military already possesses surface-to-surface missiles with a range of up to 2,000 kilometers, capable of reaching a number of possible targets in the region – including Israel.
An Iranian Noor missile.(AFP Photo / MehdI Marizad )
Following the successful test, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani issued a congratulatory statement, also reminding that Iran was “serious” about the P5+1 talks scheduled for February 18-19 in Vienna.
“Iran is ready to enter negotiations with the P5+1 to reach a comprehensive and final agreement,” Rouhani said.
However, Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi stated that Tehran’s ballistic missile program would not be up for negotiation at the next round of talks. “We will not allow such issues to be discussed in future talks,” he said, adding that “defense-related issues are a red line for Iran.”
“We will not discuss any issue other than the nuclear dossier in the negotiations,” Araqchi told state TV.
Last week, Wendy Sherman – the US negotiator in the talks – told the US Senate hearing that Tehran’s ballistic missile program would be discussed in the comprehensive deal. Sherman had also maintained that Iran does not need a heavy water reactor in Arak, nor does the country need the Fordow uranium enrichment facility.
But another Iranian nuclear negotiator, Majid Takhte Ravanchi, stated on Monday that Iran would not accept the closure of “any of its nuclear sites.” Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said he anticipates the talks in Vienna to be “difficult,” as the biggest challenge is the “lack of trust.”
Meanwhile, Iran has already begun to see the positive effects of the historic November nuclear deal, which was finalized in Geneva on January 20. On February 1, Tehran received its first US$550 million installment of a total $4.2 billion in frozen funds in return for the halting of its highly enriched uranium production.
One can see how desperate the US is becoming in its attempts to antagonise the Iranians. possible they are aware that huge contingents of their navy are sitting ducks in the Person Gulf and Iran’s missile weapons are very potent weapons and now that they can hit Israel and all major US bases in the ME the realities are coming home to the moronic idiots of the Senate and Congress and the Jews who run these dens of iniquity and hypocrisy. One hundred yrs of American involvement in world affairs. and their involvement in wars and misery . Their only moral act was their involvement in WW11 and look where that has led the world to . Sixty nine yrs later they still have occupation troops in just about every country in the world and all they bring is disease/death/drugs and destruction .There will come a time when we will all look back and shake our heads in despair and shame that we tolerated these criminals and Psychopaths to do what they have done to the innocents of the world .