President Hassan Rouhani’s chief of staff asserts that Iran’s defensive power is non-negotiable, reacting to misinterpretation of earlier remarks made by Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.
Rouhani’s chief of staff:
Defensive power Iran’s redline
17 Jul 2019 - 16:41
President Hassan Rouhani’s chief of staff asserts that Iran’s defensive power is non-negotiable, reacting to misinterpretation of earlier remarks made by Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.
“The country’s defensive might is a redline. We will not be holding negotiations in this area under any circumstances, and have said so on repeated occasions,” Mahmoud Va’ezi said on Wednesday.
Speaking to NBC News on Monday, Zarif had condemned the United States’ arms sales to regional countries, saying the sales had made “our region ready to explode.” “So if they (the US) want to talk about our missiles, they need first to stop selling all these weapons, including missiles, to our region,” he added.
Misconstruing the comments, however, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claimed on Tuesday that “for the first time, the Iranians have said that they are prepared to negotiate about their missile program.” “We will have this opportunity, I hope….,” he added.
The Associated Press also published a report, including in the title “Zarif Raises Idea of Talks (about Iran’s missile program).”
Va’ezi said, “It is not a new thing…for different American officials to make contradictory remarks every minute.”
He called Zarif’s remarks to NBC “very clear,” adding, “No part of the interview allows such interpretation.”
Earlier, a spokesman for Iran’s mission to the United Nations, Ali-Reza Mir-Yousefi also reacted to the distortion of the top diplomat’s remarks.
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