Iran

Iran military, security secrets off-limits: Defense minister

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The Iranian defense minister has ruled out any access to the country’s military sites and information by foreign parties.

“We will by no means allow any [foreign] authority access to our military and security secret,” said Iran’s Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan, noting that the resolution of outstanding past and present issues “have been agreed on with the [International Atomic Energy] Agency and we will act accordingly.”

The IAEA is tasked with resolving issues related to what it calls Possible Military Dimensions of the Iranian nuclear program or PMD, known by Iranian negotiators as “past and present issues.”

Dehqan also noted, “There is no place in our defense doctrine for unconventional weapons and we consider keeping and using such weapons to be religiously prohibited.”
“The Americans must have understood this concept by now that the elements of [our] defensive and national power are not based on such equipment and armament,” he asserted.

“We do not seek the permission of any authority in order to arm and equip our Armed Forces and we will arm them in proportion to threats.”

The Iranian minister also pointed to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), whose text was finalized in the Austrian capital of Vienna on July 14, following marathon talks between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries – the US, Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany. The JCPOA will put limits on Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for the removal of sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

He said, “The implementation of the ‘JCPOA,’ entails that the P5+1 and their subordinate institutions fully respect the Islamic Republic of Iran’s red lines and win the Iranian nation’s trust.”

On Monday, the UN Security Council (UNSC) unanimously endorsed a draft resolution turning the JCPOA into international law. All 15 members of the UNSC voted in favor of the draft UN resolution in New York, setting the stage for the lifting of Security Council sanctions against Iran.

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