Senior Security Official: Iran’s Missile Capability Not Negotiable

Undersecretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Reza Seifollahi said Tehran will never allow its missile and defensive capabilities to become an issue of talks with the world powers.
“Today the West knows well that it cannot negotiate about Iran’s missile power in the framework of the Group 5+1 because Iran’s missile capabilities are not negotiable,” Seifollahi said on Sunday.

He pointed to Iran’s missile deterrence power, and said, “Iran ranks first in terms of missile capabilities in the region …”

Seifollahi pointed to Iran’s redlines in nuclear talks with the West, and said, “… we cannot expose everything we have in the negotiations and the West is also in a similar position.”

In relevant remarks in August, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani stressed that Iran’s military program was based on a defensive doctrine, but meantime said Tehran would never ask for anyone’s permission for defending itself and expanding its defense industries, implying that the nation would not discuss its missile program in talks with the world powers.

“Our military doctrine is based on defense and we don’t design any weapon for aggression; we don’t carry out any research on how to occupy the regional states. All our researches are based on this defense principle that how we can defend ourselves or how we can stop the enemy,” Rouhani said, addressing a ceremony to unveil two new home-made cruise missiles and two new drones in Tehran participated by Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan and other senior officials at the time.

He said Iran’s defense programs were based on a deterrence strategy to prevent the breaking out of war in the region, reiterating that “our military capability is at the service of regional security”.

President Rouhani underscored Iran’s strategy of preventing war in the region, and said Tehran is not after an arms race and the Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs) “but it doesn’t ask for anyone’s permission to defend itself and to develop our defense industries to whatever degree” that we deem necessary.

The President once again reiterated the necessity for creation of a nuclear weapons-free Middle-East, saying that all WMDs in the Middle-East should be dismantled.

Rouhani also stressed Iran’s special geopolitical conditions, and asked, “Given Iran’s position in the region and the world, is it possible to speak about stability in the re