Iran confirmed on Wednesday that it had tested a ballistic missile, but denied that was a breach of its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

“The action was in line with boosting Iran’s defence power and is not in contradiction with the JCPOA [the nuclear deal] or Resolution 2231,” Defence Minister Hussain Dehghan said.

He was referring to a United Nations (UN) Security Council resolution that bans Iran from developing missiles that can carry nuclear warheads.

“This test was in line with our ongoing programmes,” the ISNA news agency quoted Dehghan as saying.

“We have previously announced that we will execute the programmes we have planned in production of defence items meant for our national interests and objectives. Nobody can influence our decision.”

Tehran on Tuesday warned Washington against fuelling tensions.

“We hope that Iran’s defence programme is not used by the new US administration ... as a pretext to create new tensions,” Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said.

His comments came ahead of emergency consultations at the UN Security Council on the missile test convened at Washington’s request.

US ambassador Nikki Haley told the meeting that the test-firing of the medium-range missile was “absolutely unacceptable”.

“The United States is not naive. We are not going to stand by. You will see us call them out,” she said.

Meanwhile, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani dismissed his US counterpart, Donald Trump, as a political novice on Wednesday, stepping up criticism of the Republican’s immigration policies including a temporary travel ban on Iranians.

Tehran has already said it will take legal, political and reciprocal measures in response to Trump’s order suspending the entry of people from Iran and six other Muslim-majority countries.

Rouhani turned the focus on Trump himself in a live address on state television, saying: “He [Trump] is new to politics. He has been in a different world. It’s a totally new environment to him.”

“It will take him a long time and will cost the United States a lot, until he learns what is happening in the world,” added Rouhani, who led a rapprochement with Washington under Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama.

Trump’s has said his travel order, signed on Friday, is needed to protect national security.

He has also promised a sharp shift in policy on Iran, calling the nuclear pact that Tehran signed with Washington and other world powers “the worst deal ever negotiated”.

The renewed impasse with may further weaken Rouhani’s efforts to attract foreign investors to Iran, particularly if it slows the implementation of the deals for 80 Boeing jets and 100 Airbus struck last year.

“Today is not a time for separating nations by walls,” Rouhani said, in an apparent reference to Trump’s promise to build a barrier along the US border with Mexico.

Opposition to President Donald Trump’s immigration moves spread inside the United States on Tuesday, with Massachusetts, New York, Virginia and Washington state joining others suing the administration over the travel ban.

France vowed on Monday to defend Iran’s nuclear deal, strengthen trade ties with Tehran, and double the number of visas available to Iranians

source : gulfnews