Future of the nuclear deal, Iran’s missile program at the top French FM’s talks in Tehran

Tabnak – French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian arrived in Tehran on Monday to meet with high-ranking Iranian officials, including his counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif. During his first two meetings, the French diplomat was clearly told that Iran will in no way compromise over its military capabilities.

During Le Drian’s first official meeting in Tehran today, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani made it clear to France’s foreign minister that Tehran will enhance its missile capabilities as part of a defense strategy which would not be affected by political factors.

“Iran’s defense power is not a threat to any country, and its enhancement is a function of the security needs and (the need to counter) potential threats against the country without being influenced by political factors,” Shamkhani said.

His remarks came after Le Drian’s controversial comments about Iran’s missile program ahead of his trip to Tehran. “There are programs for missiles that can travel several thousand kilometers, which are not compatible with UN Security Council resolutions and which exceed the needs of defending Iran's borders,” the top French diplomat had told the Journal du Dimanche newspaper.

Elsewhere in the meeting, Shamkhani called on Europe to accelerate the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the nuclear agreement between Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany).

Le Drian’s next meeting in Tehran was with his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif. Although a great part of the discussions between the two ministers were focused on the nuclear deal, Zarif also reiterated Iran’s position regarding the missile issue, underlining that Tehran won’t make any compromises with the west on this issue.

Iranian foreign minister made it clear deal that contrary to the American position, the missile issue is completely out of the framework of Iran Nuclear Deal (JCPOA) and has nothing to do with the UN Security Council’s resolution No. 2231 on Iran’s nuclear program.

He also said that Iran’s missile capabilities are defensive in nature, aiming at creating deterrence in face of the enemies. According to Zarif, the experience of eight-year war with Iraq has taught Iran that it have to rely only on its own deterrence power in order to defend its citizens. 

Prior to the meeting, in an interview published earlier on Monday, Zarif had criticized the European Union for pursuing an extremist policy with Tehran in order to keep Washington in the nuclear agreement.

Iranian officials have stressed several times that the country will not accept any change to the deal. Iran's armed forces spokesman said Saturday there could be no talks on the country's missile program without the West's destruction of its own nuclear weapons and long-range missiles first.