UNITED NATIONS: Iran accused France, Germany and the United Kingdom on Thursday of “a desperate falsehood” for saying its missile program goes against a United Nations (UN) resolution calling on Tehran not to undertake any activity related to nuclear-capable ballistic missiles. France, Germany and the UK said they had firmly concluded that “Iran’s developments of nuclear-capable ballistic missiles” are “inconsistent” with the missile provision in the Security Council resolution endorsing the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran. That provision calls on Iran “not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons.” But it does not require Tehran to halt such activity, and the Iranian government reiterated Thursday that none of its missile activities are nuclear-related and therefore legal. United States President Donald Trump withdrew from the nuclear agreement in May 2018. Zarif, Iran’s top diplomat, tweeted Thursday that the letter from the three European countries — the E3 — “is a desperate falsehood to cover up their miserable incompetence in fulfilling bare minimum of their own #JCPOA obligations.”AP

Source: Manila Times December 07, 2019 05:00 UTC