Tehran, Iran, March 13
By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:
There are more military exercises involving missiles to be held by the Islamic Republic, Iranian Army Commander Ahmadreza Pourdastan said.
The missile tests are not something that Iran would compromise for the sake of the US or Israel, he stressed, Nasim news agency reported March 13.
The remarks came after US President Barack Obama renewed an executive order that extends for another year a so-called "National Emergency" with regards to Iran, in place since 1995.
"Despite the historic deal to ensure the exclusively peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program, certain actions and policies of the Government of Iran continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States," Obama wrote in a notice that was posted on the White House's official website.
The Obama decree came a few days after Iran held exercises test-firing some newly developed ballistic missiles.
The US and UK, France, Russia, China, and Germany are supposed to refrain from posing any more restrictions on Iran after they made a deal with Tehran which was put to force in January.
However, on January 17, only a day after the landmark nuclear deal went into effect, the US Treasury Department imposed new sanctions on Iran for its test launch of ballistic missile on October 11, claiming that the test was a violation of the JCPOA.
"As military forces we have to boost our abilities evermore and use whatever capabilities exist in the world," Pourdastan said.
Hossein Jaber Ansari, the Iranian Foreign Ministry's spokesman, said March 10 that the missile tests violate neither the nuclear deal, nor the 2231 resolution of the UN Security Council, which forbids Iran from conducting tests of missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.