(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Iran said its ballistic missile programme was not connected to the UN Security Council resolution adopted yesterday that endorses its July 14 nuclear accord with world powers.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran is committed to implementing its commitments... so long as" world powers keep their side of the agreement to lift sanctions in exchange for guarantees that Tehran will not develop a nuclear programme, the foreign ministry said in a statement.
It said Iran would in any case never seek a nuclear bomb, "in line with the historic fatwa (religious decree) of supreme guide Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who has banned the use of weapons of mass destruction".
On its ballistic weapons, the ministry said: "Iran's military capacities, especially ballistic missiles, are strictly defensive and, as they have not been conceived to carry nuclear weapons, they are outside the scope and competence of the Security Council resolution".
Under the terms of the nuclear deal, Iran is barred from developing ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. Iran says it has built ballistic missiles with a range of 2,000km, capable of striking its arch-foe Israel.
The agreement faces opposition in the US Congress and some Middle East states, including Israel and Saudi Arabia, as well as from the Revolutionary Guards and other Iranian hardliners.
The foreign ministry, referring to the intrusive inspections permitted under the accord, said: "Since there has never been nuclear activity at any military site, Iran is certain there will not be any request to inspect such sites" from the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guards attacked the resolution for interfering with the country's military operations and crossing "red lines" set by Khamenei. "Some parts of the (resolution) draft have clearly crossed the Islamic republic's red lines, especially in Iran's military capabilities," top commander Mohammed Ali Jafari was quoted as saying shortly before the resolution was passed in New York.
"We will never accept it," he was quoted as saying by the semi-official Tasnim News Agency. Iran's hardliners are concerned that the new UN resolution would effectively amount to agreeing to previous resolutions on Iran that will be terminated once sanctions relief can be implemented, including the ones that imposed restrictions on the country's military programmes.
They are also particularly worried that inspectors may gain some access to sensitive military sites under the resolution, which becomes international law. "Even by simply looking at the deal you can see some vital red lines of the Islamic Republic have not been preserved," wrote Hossein Shariatmadari, editor-in-chief of Kayhan, a newspaper closely associated with Khamenei.
"Iran has always said UNSC's resolutions are illegal, but by accepting the new resolution we are approving them all," said Shariatmadari, who was appointed by the Supreme Leader and is widely regarded as the leader of the hardline cohort.
Ahmad Bakhshayesh, a member of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee in parliament, said the nuclear negotiations had veered too far into the military sphere.
Iran's senior nuclear negotiator, Seyed Abbas Araghchi, dismissed critics' concerns and called the Security Council resolution an "unprecedented achievement in Iran's history".
"The new UNSC's resolution would only ban missiles designed to carry a nuclear warhead (and) Iran does not have a nuclear missile programme," Araghchi told state broadcaster IRIB in a live interview. He added that after resolution is passed, "Iran will issue a statement, saying it still considers previous sanctions and restrictions illegal".
The head of Iran's nuclear organisation Ali Akbar Salehi and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, the two main negotiators in Vienna, will attend a closed-door session of the parliament today to brief lawmakers on the deal. The deal must be approved by Iran's National Security Council and later by Khamenei. Parliament's role is not clear. Agencies
N-deal does not prevent military option: Ashton
Tel Aviv: US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter visited Israel yesterday in a bid to ease concerns over the nuclear deal with Iran, signalling Washington was ready to boost military cooperation with the Jewish state.
Israel was Carter's first stop on a regional tour following last week's historic agreement between Iran and world powers, underlining the importance of the relationship between the two countries despite frictions over the accord.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has condemned the deal with Iran, arguing it is not enough to keep the Islamic republic from obtaining nuclear weapons that could be used to target Israel. He has also indicated that military force remains on the table to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, though experts say unilateral strikes by Israel appear highly unlikely for now.
Despite the tension, Carter said Israel remained "the bedrock of American strategy in the Middle East". At a joint news conference with Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon, he noted aspects of military aid the United States already supplies to Israel and said "there is a lot more that we can do" related to cooperation.
"We will continue in that tradition in improving our joint capabilities, our joint readiness, our joint planning," he said.
Yaalon expressed concern over militant groups Iran is accused of backing, such as Lebanon's Shiite militia Hezbollah, arguing that the expected lifting of sanctions will worsen the problem. "We have to look at it very carefully because they are going to have more money in the current situation," he said. Carter also visited Israel's northern border with Lebanon for an assessment of the threat it says Hezbollah poses.
Israel is believed to be the only country in the Middle East with atomic bombs, although it has never confirmed that.
The United States grants the country about $3bn in military aid annually in addition to spending on other projects, such as the Iron Dome missile defence system.
While there have been suggestions that Israel could receive additional compensation to help it defend itself against the threat it says the Iranian nuclear deal now poses, Netanyahu has so far shown no sign of tempering his criticism.
Israeli army radio cited defence ministry officials as saying they were ready to begin discussing such compensation, but Netanyahu has been hesitant because he believes it would signal acceptance of the agreement.
On his flight to Israel, Carter said the deal does not preclude the use of military force to stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, though the agreement is designed to resolve the issue diplomatically.
"One of the reasons why this deal is a good one is that it does nothing to prevent the military option," Carter said. "We are preserving and continually improving" such a military option should Iran violate the terms of the agreement, Carter said.
In response to talk of military force, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that "the world sees last week's agreement in Vienna as a victory of diplomacy over war and violence". "Unfortunately there are still people who speak of the illegal and illegitimate use of violence to attain their objective based on illusions and insist on maintaining an ineffective option," he said, according to Iran's state news agency IRNA. Carter is due to meet Netanyahu today before travelling on to Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
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