Iran
A handout picture provided by Iran's Defence Ministry on August 20, 2020, shows a ballistic missile named "Ghassem Soleimani" (Qasem Soleimani), after the late commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) who was killed in a US drone strike earlier in the year, on display at an undisclosed location. Photo: handout/Iranian defence ministry website/AFP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iran on Thursday unveiled two new missiles as US President Donald Trump sends his top diplomat to the United Nations to try and push snapback sanctions through the Security Council.
The two new missiles, unveiled via video by President Hassan Rouhani, are named after military leaders who were killed in a US drone strike in Baghdad in January. The ballistic missile named for Iranian Lt. Gen. Qassem Soleimani has a range of nearly 1,400 kilometres and the cruise missile named for Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis has a range of 1,000 kilometres.
“Cruise missiles are of particular importance to us. The fact that we have increased the range from 300 to 1,000 in less than two years shows the country is on the path of production and self-sufficiency in this field,” Rouhani said. He stressed that the Islamic Republic’s military strategy is one of defence, stating that Iran has never started a war.
Defence Minister Amir Hatami said the increased range of the ballistic missiles shows Iran’s “effectiveness” against “American criminals.” He also announced that three domestically-built training jets are in the final testing stages.
The unveiling of the missiles comes the same day as US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will travel to New York to “initiate the process that will restore UN sanctions on Iran. Thirty days after the Secretary’s notification, a range of UN sanctions will be restored, including the requirement that Iran suspend all enrichment-related activities. This will also extend the 13-year arms embargo,” said State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus.
The UN sanctions were lifted under the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which Trump pulled out of in 2018 and began imposing sanctions that have crippled Iran’s economy but failed in their goal of curtailing Iran’s regional activities or bringing Tehran back to the negotiating table for a wider-reaching deal.
The US “will not continue down a path whose predictable end is more violence, terror, and a nuclear armed Iran,” tweeted Pompeo.
Last week the UN Security Council defeated a US motion to extend an arms embargo on Iran that will expire in October.
Washington’s attempt to reintroduce UN sanctions is also expected to fail.
"The blatant, cynical and aggressive policy promoting American hegemony must be properly opposed by all other members of the JCPOA, including European partners," said the chairman of Russia’s parliamentary Committee for Foreign Affairs Leonid Slutsky, TASS reported. “It is unacceptable when one side unilaterally exits international agreements approved by the UN Security Council resolution, and then tries to dictate its will through sanctions."
The two new missiles, unveiled via video by President Hassan Rouhani, are named after military leaders who were killed in a US drone strike in Baghdad in January. The ballistic missile named for Iranian Lt. Gen. Qassem Soleimani has a range of nearly 1,400 kilometres and the cruise missile named for Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis has a range of 1,000 kilometres.
“Cruise missiles are of particular importance to us. The fact that we have increased the range from 300 to 1,000 in less than two years shows the country is on the path of production and self-sufficiency in this field,” Rouhani said. He stressed that the Islamic Republic’s military strategy is one of defence, stating that Iran has never started a war.
Defence Minister Amir Hatami said the increased range of the ballistic missiles shows Iran’s “effectiveness” against “American criminals.” He also announced that three domestically-built training jets are in the final testing stages.
The unveiling of the missiles comes the same day as US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will travel to New York to “initiate the process that will restore UN sanctions on Iran. Thirty days after the Secretary’s notification, a range of UN sanctions will be restored, including the requirement that Iran suspend all enrichment-related activities. This will also extend the 13-year arms embargo,” said State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus.
The UN sanctions were lifted under the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which Trump pulled out of in 2018 and began imposing sanctions that have crippled Iran’s economy but failed in their goal of curtailing Iran’s regional activities or bringing Tehran back to the negotiating table for a wider-reaching deal.
The US “will not continue down a path whose predictable end is more violence, terror, and a nuclear armed Iran,” tweeted Pompeo.
Last week the UN Security Council defeated a US motion to extend an arms embargo on Iran that will expire in October.
Washington’s attempt to reintroduce UN sanctions is also expected to fail.
"The blatant, cynical and aggressive policy promoting American hegemony must be properly opposed by all other members of the JCPOA, including European partners," said the chairman of Russia’s parliamentary Committee for Foreign Affairs Leonid Slutsky, TASS reported. “It is unacceptable when one side unilaterally exits international agreements approved by the UN Security Council resolution, and then tries to dictate its will through sanctions."
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