Posted by Jack
On March 30, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rejected Western pressure for Iran to stop testing ballistic missiles and a statement by a former Iranian president favoring negotiations instead of the missile program by warning in a speech: “People say that tomorrow’s world is a world of negotiations and not a world of missiles.” Khamenei added, “If they say this thoughtlessly, it shows that they are thoughtless. However, if this is intentional, then this is treachery.”
Khamenei’s defiant comments came in the midst of growing international concerns about Iran’s missile program. Iran tested two ballistic missiles last fall and several over the last month. Written on the sides of two missiles recently tested by Iran reportedly were the words “Israel should be wiped from the pages of history.” Iran is expected to soon launch a space-launch rocket that most experts believe will be a test to develop an ICBM capable of firing nuclear warheads against Europe and the United States.
Iran has the largest ballistic missile arsenal in the Middle East and is the only nation in history to develop missiles with ranges of 2,000 km or more without having a nuclear weapons capability. Although Iran claims its missiles are not intended to carry nuclear warheads, most experts believe they are being developed as a nuclear weapons delivery system. The United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany said in a joint letter sent this week to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon that Iran’s recent missile launches were “inherently capable of delivering nuclear weapons.”
This is why most observers expected a missile test moratorium to be part of the Iran nuclear deal. At first this seemed to be the case when President Obama and Secretary of State Kerry said last July that under the deal Tehran would honor UN Security Council resolutions for eight years that bar ballistic missile tests.
However, it turned out this was not the case since language barring Iranian missile tests is not present in the actual text of the nuclear deal — it is buried in a July 2015 UN Security Council resolution which endorsed the deal. This means Iran can conduct missile tests without violating the nuclear deal and causing the sanctions it lifted to be reimposed – See more at: https://specialoperationsspeaks.com/current-news/the-real-meaning-of-iranian-supreme-leader-khamenei-s-missile-warning#sthash.2Tife6rN.dpuf