Iran rejects the idea of missile negotiations, open to regional dialogue with neighbors

Tabnak – While underlining the importance of preserving Iran nuclear deal, some European countries has been recently claiming that Tehran should enter talks over its missile program. Iranian officials however have once again rejected any idea entailing negotiations over the country’s defensive capabilities.

Recent reports in the German weekly Der Spiegel and French daily Le Figaro have suggested that Europe is eying to pressure Iran over its missile program and/or regional policies.

Earlier, a report by The Financial Times claimed that German, French, and British foreign ministers — together with Federica Mogherini, the EU’s foreign policy chief — had agreed during earlier talks with Iranian officials in Brussels to hold an “intensive and very serious dialogue” on the country’s conventional missile work and regional influence.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, who is scheduled to visit Iran, has told Le Figaro that Iran “must cooperate” on those two matters. “If Iran wants to return to the concert of nations, it must cooperate on these questions,” the French foreign minister said. “Otherwise, it will with reason always be suspected of wanting to develop nuclear weapons.”

Reacting to the latest reports on Monday, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi once again noted that Iran’s positions on its missile program and regional policies were clear and that no agenda had been set for the talks during Le Drian’s upcoming visit to Iran, either.

Qassemi said varied issues can be “discussed” with the French foreign minister but he stressed that one had to differentiate between “negotiating” and “exchanging viewpoints.”

Meanwhile, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Abbas Araghchi also said that EU states that think they can persuade US President Donald Trump to stay in Iran's nuclear deal by making non-JCPOA concessions are "totally wrong." 

"Some Europeans think that if they give Trump non- JCPOA concession, they will be able to keep him inside the nuclear deal, this is a totally wrong policy which will without a doubt have a reverse result," Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Abbas Araghchi made the remarks on Monday. 

Araghchi added that Trump’s efforts to pressure Iran via the UN Security Council with excuses of missiles program and recent riots resulted in nothing.

Instead, in an innovative proposal, Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has raised the idea of the establishment of "a regional dialogue forum in the Persian Gulf" where "fresh conflict and tension" is brewing despite the defeat of ISIS terrorists.   

In an op-ed published Sunday in the Financial Times, Zarif cited "a dialogue deficit in west Asia" where destructive rivalry was spawning an arms race and "an oligarchy" was emerging among big states.

Given the recent positions taken by high-ranking Iranian officials, Iran’s main idea seems to be adopting an open approach toward dialogue with the neighbors in the region, but rejecting any interference in such issues by trans-regional countries, especially the West.

In fact, Tehran believes that sources of conflict and tensions in the Middle East are multi-dimensional and complex and reducing the issue by the Western countries to blaming Iran’s policies as the main problem, is just a political move aiming at further restricting Iran’s abilities in favor of its regional rivals. Therefore, it’s quite natural for Iran not to accept any talks with the Europeans over its defensive capabilities of regional influence.