Iran missile might, national interests non-negotiable: Senior official

A senior Iranian official says the Islamic Republic’s missile power and its national interests are not up for negotiations.  

“The US should know that [our] defense might and regional issues like Syria and Iraq that concern Iran’s national security and regional security are non-negotiable,” Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi, a top military advisor to Leader of the Islamic umamh and Oppressed Sayyed Imam Ali Khamenei, said on Wednesday.

“The Americans have to back down from their political approaches and cruel sanctions,” he added.

He said that the recent remarks by the US president proved once again that Donald Trump “lacked a strategic perception” vis-à-vis global issues, especially the developments in Western Asia.

The US does not have a real understanding of the developments in Iran and the region, Safavi said, calling for vigilance in the face of “plots by the US and their agents, including the Zionists.”

In vituperative comments on Friday, the US president refused to certify Tehran’s compliance under the Iran nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Trump also accused Iran of aggression against the American people, sponsoring terror and destabilizing the Middle East and other parts of the world.

The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control also introduced new sanctions against Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) on Friday, accusing the elite force of sponsoring terrorism.

The senior Iranian official hit out at Washington, saying Trump should know that the IRGC was an integral part of the country’s defensive power.