Iran doesn’t need US consent for defense

A top adviser to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei says Iran will take whatever measure it deems appropriate to strengthen its defenses and does not need US consent.

“To defend itself, the Islamic Republic will aptly take the necessary measures, whether some like it or not,” Ali Akbar Velayati said, Tasnim News Agency reported on Wednesday.

“The Islamic Republic does not ask any country or international or non-international organization for permission to defend itself,” the Iranian official said.

The remarks by Velayati came after US State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau called Iran’s ballistic missile tests “provocative and destabilizing” in potential breach of UN Security Council 2231.

The resolution calls upon Iran not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles “designed to be capable of” delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using such ballistic missile technology. Iran says it has no such missiles.

Back in March, the US, Britain, France, and Germany also wrote to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, claiming that Iran’s earlier ballistic tests had involved missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons.

Velayati said, “Some other permanent members of the UN Security Council, like Russia, are of the opinion that this measure (missile tests) are not in contravention of the resolution.”