Iran will not ask for any country’s permission regarding its defense capability and will make no compromise on its missile program, a lawmaker said.
“Strengthening missile systems will always be on Iran’s agenda as a deterrent policy,” Valiollah Nanvakenari, a member of Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, said in an interview with ICANA on Sunday.
He made the statement in reference to Europe’s position on Iran’s missile activities and its call for their termination.
Iran’s firing of short-range ballistic missiles into Syria on Sept. 30, missile tests and a satellite launch this month have bothered western powers.
On Jan. 8, French, British, German, Danish, Dutch and Belgian envoys held a meeting at the Iranian Foreign Ministry, which grew tense as they incensed Iranian officials with a message that Europe could no longer tolerate Iran’s ballistic missile tests as well as alleged assassination plots on European soil.
The next day, the European Union imposed its first sanctions on Iran since world powers reached the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran.
The EU designated a unit of Iran’s Intelligence Ministry a terrorist organization, froze its assets and those of two officials.
EU diplomats have said additional restrictive measures are being prepared and will be implemented as soon as all 28 member states reach consensus.
Tehran denies the plots and maintains that the missile tests are purely defensive.
“They have no right to interfere with our missile activities,” Nanvakenari said.
He added that the European Union “has no autonomy over its foreign policy and takes its cue from the White House.”
Europe has been a vocal advocate of keeping Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal alive following the US withdrawal last May, but has failed to prove it in practice.
To protect Iran against the US unilateral sanctions, it proposed to launch a non-dollar payment channel known as the special purpose vehicle, but the plan has been delayed by over two months.
The new sanctions and the stormy meeting in January marked an unexpected shift in European diplomacy and a harder stance on Tehran, which moves the EU closer to US President Donald Trump’s hostile policy on Iran.
“We cannot trust Europe and the United States and need to pursue our security and defensive projects resolutely,” Nanvakenari said.
In addition, Poland has agreed to host a two-day conference convened by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in February on the Middle East, particularly Iran, which has been condemned by Iran as submission to Washington.
