US missile allegations against the Islamic Republic are aimed at deflecting international attention from Washington's aggressive role in the Middle East and beyond, a lawmaker said.
Commenting on hostile remarks by US officials questioning the conventional nature of Iran's missile program and its regional activities, Kamal Dehqani added that "Iran has not produced ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads and [the Americans] are completely aware that the Islamic Republic has never broken its commitments".
In an interview with ICANA, the parliamentarian said, "Such remarks are aimed at distracting the world and region's public opinion from US brutal measures in countries like Yemen."
He was responding to the latest anti-Iran tirade of US Ambassador Nikki Haley delivered at a UN meeting on Tuesday, where she called for fresh punitive action against Tehran over what the US administration calls "dangerous violations" of UN resolutions and "destabilizing behavior".
Haley told the UN Security Council meeting on the implementation of UN Resolution 2231 that the council could strengthen the resolution, adopt a new one to prohibit all Iranian ballistic missile activity, explore sanctions in response to the alleged "violation of the Yemen arms embargo", and hold Tehran accountable for allegedly violating numerous council resolutions.
Resolution 2231 was adopted on July 20, 2015, to formally ratify the nuclear agreement announced days earlier between Iran and the six power nations to curb Tehran's nuclear program in exchange for time-bound restrictions on its nuclear work. The non-binding resolution calls on Iran to refrain from any activity related to nuclear-capable ballistic missiles. Iran denies western allegations that it possesses such missiles, describing its missile program as purely defensive in nature.
Need to Abandon Threats
Russia's deputy UN ambassador, Vladimir Safronkov, rejected Haley's call for anti-Iran action, saying what is needed to implement the resolution on the nuclear deal is "to abandon the language of threats and sanctions, and to start using the instruments of dialogue—and concentrate on broadening cooperation and mutual trust".
The UN Security Council's Tuesday session was focused on UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' report on the implementation of Resolution 2231.
The UN chief said Iran was complying with the nuclear deal it signed with the US and five other world powers, but he warned that Tehran may be defying a UN call to halt ballistic missile development.
But Safronkov stressed that the resolution makes no such demand. Guterres said the United Nations is investigating Iran's possible transfer of ballistic missiles to Houthi fighters in Yemen that he claimed may have been used in launches aimed at Saudi Arabia on July 22 and Nov. 4. Safronkov accused the UN Secretariat of carrying out investigations without prior Security Council approval, saying it "has neither the authority nor the expertise" and the information obtained "cannot be considered accurate".
He said a Russian initiative for adopting "a system of collective security" and confidence-building measures in the Middle East is relevant today.
Last week, Haley displayed missile debris in what she claimed was "undeniable" evidence of Iran supplying Houthi forces in Yemen with missiles used in the Saudi attacks, but officials in Tehran dismissed the evidence as "fabricated". Iran denies the accusations of weapons supply to Yemen, which is banned under a separate UN resolution.
