Reuters, Dubai :
President Hassan Rouhani ordered his defense minister on Thursday to expand Iran’s missile program, in response to a U.S. threat to impose sanctions over a ballistic missile test Iran carried out in October.
“As the U.S. government is clearly still pursuing its hostile policies and illegal meddling … the armed forces need to quickly and significantly increase their missile capability,” Rouhani wrote in a letter to Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan, published on the state news agency IRNA.
U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration is preparing new sanctions against international companies and individuals over Iran’s ballistic missile program, sources familiar with the situation said on Wednesday.
In the five months since the nuclear deal was struck US officials say Iran has conducted two missile tests, one of which state media reported at the time, on October 11. Iran also recently aired television footage of an underground missile base.
The actions angered the United States and a United Nations panel found earlier this month that the tests breached previous resolutions aimed at stopping the Islamic republic from developing missiles capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.
President Hassan Rouhani ordered his defense minister on Thursday to expand Iran’s missile program, in response to a U.S. threat to impose sanctions over a ballistic missile test Iran carried out in October.
“As the U.S. government is clearly still pursuing its hostile policies and illegal meddling … the armed forces need to quickly and significantly increase their missile capability,” Rouhani wrote in a letter to Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan, published on the state news agency IRNA.
U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration is preparing new sanctions against international companies and individuals over Iran’s ballistic missile program, sources familiar with the situation said on Wednesday.
In the five months since the nuclear deal was struck US officials say Iran has conducted two missile tests, one of which state media reported at the time, on October 11. Iran also recently aired television footage of an underground missile base.
The actions angered the United States and a United Nations panel found earlier this month that the tests breached previous resolutions aimed at stopping the Islamic republic from developing missiles capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.
