Iran military chief says missile program is threat to enemies, including Israel

Iran has said it will continue to develop its missile program and it should not be considered a threat to neighboring and friendly countries, the semi-official Fars news agency quoted the head of the army as saying on Thursday.

"Iran's missile capability and its missile program will become stronger. We do not pay attention and do not implement resolutions against Iran, and this is not a violation of the nuclear deal," Fars quoted commander-in-chief Ataollah Salehi as saying.

"Our missile program is not a threat against our friends but it is a threat against our enemies. Israel should understand what it means," Salehi said.

Salehi was referring to last July's momentous nuclear deal with major powers.

Iran took a huge step to ending its international isolation last month as sanctions on the Islamic republic were lifted.

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani, whose 2013 election helped launch the Herculean diplomatic effort towards the July 14 Vienna deal, said it was a "glorious victory" for the "patient nation of Iran".

Iran has always denied wanting nuclear weapons, saying its activities are exclusively for peaceful purposes such as power generation.

In what was hailed as a momentous diplomatic breakthrough, the Vienna agreement was nailed down in July after two years of rollercoaster negotiations following the moderate Rouhani's election.

The highly complex deal drew a line under a standoff dating back to 2002 marked by failed diplomatic initiatives, ever-tighter sanctions, defiant nuclear expansion by Iran and threats of military action.

In addition it put Iran and the United States on the road to better relations some 35 years after the Islamic revolution that toppled the US-backed shah, and at a particularly explosive time in the Middle East.

The agreement, heralded as US President Barack Obama's biggest major foreign policy triumph, has by no means been universally cheered, however.

Obama's Republican opponents charge that it fails to do enough to ensure Iran will never get the bomb, a complaint shared by Israel, Iran's arch foe widely assumed to have nuclear weapons itself.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday Iran "has not relinquished its ambition to obtain nuclear weapons, and continues to act to destabilize the Middle East and spread terror throughout the world".
 -i24news.tv with agencies
4/2/16
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