Tehran spares no effort to boost its defense capabilities

28 March 2016 12:15 (UTC+04:00)

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The Iranian administration spares no effort to boost the country’s defense capabilities, President Hassan Rouhani said during the first meeting of the ministers’ cabinet in Iran’s new calendar year, the state-run IRINN TV reported March 28.

The government pursues any measure which is necessary for strengthening Iran’s defensive capabilities, Rouhani said.

He added that the issue is his administration’s “strategic policy.”

However, he further said that, the Islamic Republic should be careful to not provide its enemies with any excuse in this regard.

Rouhani’s remarks came after Iran was slapped with new US sanctions, following the test-fire of several ballistic missiles from several bases across the country as part of massive missile drills in early March.

While a couple of Western and regional states claimed the tests have violated a UN resolution, Iranian officials have constantly reiterated that Tehran's ballistic missile tests do not violate the nuclear agreement it reached with the P5+1 group and are not in breach of a United Nations Security Council resolution.

The US Department of the Treasury imposed financial sanctions on two Iranian companies it claims were involved in the country’s ballistic missile program.

Washington’s latest legal move against Tehran was announced on March 24, weeks after the US imposed similar sanctions on 11 other companies and individuals alleged to be involved in the missile program.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif earlier said that the Islamic Republic would respond to the sanctions by strengthening its missile capabilities.

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