Iran military official urges firm answer to US

A top Iranian military official has roundly rejected US Secretary of State John Kerry’s calls for missile negotiations with Tehran and urged Iran’s Foreign Ministry to respond “firmly to the impudence.”

The strong-worded reaction by deputy joint chief of staff of the armed forces, Brigadier General Massoud Jazayeri, on Friday came a day after Kerry suggested the US was open to a “new arrangement” with Iran for resolving the issue.

“We are stressing what has been said several times: the missile power is non-negotiable and among the red lines of the Iranian nation and for developing its defense capabilities, Iran doesn’t get permission from anybody,” he said.

Jazayeri urged Iran’s diplomatic establishment which hammered out a Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOAC) on its nuclear program “to deal firmly and transparently with the American meddling in Iranian affairs, especially in the defensive sphere.”

“The country’s diplomatic apparatus is expected to show a timely and decisive reaction toward American impudence, especially by the US secretary of state,” he said.