TEHRAN: President Hassan Rouhani vowed on Friday that Iran would boost its ballistic missile capabilities despite criticism from the United States and also France.
“Whether you like it or not, we are going to strengthen our military capabilities which are necessary for deterrence,” Rouhani said in a speech marking the anniversary of the outbreak of Iran’s devastating 1980-1988 war with Saddam Hussein’s Iraq.
“We will strengthen not only our missiles but also our air, land and sea forces... When it comes to defending our country, we will ask nobody for their permission.”
Criticism by the Donald Trump administration of a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and major powers, including the United States, has focused heavily on Tehran’s continuing missile program.
Tehran says that the missiles are entirely legitimate under the terms of the deal as they are not designed to carry a nuclear warhead.
But Washington says they breach the spirit of the agreement as they have the potential to carry a nuclear warhead and has imposed new sanctions over Tehran’s continuing launches and tests.
There has been some sympathy for the US position from France, whose President Emmanuel Macron said the deal could be expanded to ban missile tests and cut a sunset clause in the nuclear agreement that would see Iran resume some uranium enrichment from 2025.
But even he insisted that the core deal not be dumped.
Thus far, the UN nuclear watchdog and the US State Department have reported that Tehran has complied with the terms of the nuclear deal.
But Trump, who this week described the deal as an “embarrassment,” is due to report to the US Congress on October 15 on whether or not he believes that Iran is in compliance.
If, as now appears increasingly likely, he decides that it is not, it could open the way for renewed US sanctions and perhaps the collapse of the agreement.
Trump said on Wednesday he had made his decision but was not yet ready to reveal it.
Washington has also taken aim at what it says is Tehran’s failure to meet expectations that it would play a more stabilising role in the Middle East.
“Regrettably, since the agreement was confirmed we have seen anything but a more peaceful, stable region and this is a real issue,” Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told reporters at the United Nations.
Washington has been particularly concerned about Iran’s heavy intervention in Syria on the side of the government of President Bashar Assad and its support for Shiite rebels in Yemen who control the capital in defiance of its Saudi-backed government.
But Rouhani ruled out any change of policy in the region.
“Whether you like it or not, we are going to defend the oppressed peoples of Yemen, Palestine and Syria,” he said.
Iran’s Rouhani vows to strengthen missiles despite US criticism
Iran’s Rouhani vows to strengthen missiles despite US criticism
Iran war chokes aid corridors, obstructing global relief efforts
- “People in dire need of assistance will have to wait longer for food,” said Bauer
- Tents, tarpaulins and lamps destined for Gaza and the West Bank have become stuck in the supply chain, the IOM said
GENEVA: Key humanitarian air, sea and land routes are being constricted by disruption from the war in the Middle East, delaying life-saving shipments to some of the world’s worst crises, 10 aid officials have told Reuters.
The US–Israeli war on Iran entered its seventh day on Friday, convulsing global markets and disrupting supply chains with airspace closures and the halt of shipping through the critical Strait of Hormuz.
Aid to Gaza and Sudan is grinding to a halt and costs are soaring for help to the hundreds of millions suffering hunger crises around the world.
“People in dire need of assistance will have to wait longer for food,” said Jean-Martin Bauer, Director of Food Security at the World Food Programme.
Already, tents, tarpaulins and lamps destined for the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories of Gaza and the West Bank have become stuck in the supply chain, the International Organization for Migration said.
DUBAI AID HUB HOBBLED BY AIR AND SEA RESTRICTIONS
Aid groups say higher operational costs are straining budgets already facing massive donor cuts. The IOM said shipping firms were demanding emergency surcharges of approximately $3,000 per container.
Humanitarian groups stocking goods for rapid regional deployment at warehouses in Dubai’s Humanitarian Hub face challenges moving supplies onto transit routes.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies cannot move trauma kits to help the Iranian Red Crescent with search and rescue from its Dubai hub, where they sit in a estimated 1 million Swiss franc ($1.28 million) pre-positioned emergency stockpile, said Cecile Terraz, a director at the IFRC.
The group cannot move stock through Jebel Ali port — the region’s largest container terminal, which was set on fire by the debris of an intercepted missile — from where cargo normally moves onto planes or into the Strait of Hormuz.
The World Health Organization’s Dubai hub operations are also frozen, regional director Hanan Balkhy said, obstructing 50 emergency requests from 25 countries and hampering operations such as polio vaccination.
Ripple effects farther afield are also likely.
Famine-struck Sudan is particularly exposed due to additional restrictions since February 28 on the Suez Canal and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait at the southern entrance to the Red Sea, the UNHCR said.
“We are particularly concerned about Africa,” said a spokeswoman, adding that some cargoes were being sent around the Cape of Good Hope. The route takes up to three weeks longer.
Costs for fuel, transportation and insurance are also rising, and Terraz said the IFRC may have to cut deliveries to the Iranian Red Crescent.
Emma Maspero, senior manager in Copenhagen of the supply division of the UN children’s body UNICEF, said she hoped flights carrying perishable humanitarian goods such as vaccines could be prioritized amid the airspace restrictions.
