Iran tells UN nuclear chief no talks on missiles

Associated Press ^ | Aug 17, 2014 10:29 AM EDT | Nasser Karimi

[Olog-hai]

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told the visiting head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog on Sunday that Tehran will not discuss its long-range missile program as part of talks aimed at resolving a decade-long nuclear dispute, official media reported.

“Iran’s missile power is not negotiable at any level under any pretext,” Rouhani told Yukiya Amano, the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the official IRNA news service reported.

The president added, however, that Iran is prepared to cooperate with the IAEA’s probe into whether its civilian nuclear program has a military component, “since there is no room for using a weapon of mass destruction in Iran’s defense doctrine.” …

[JimSEA]

Translation: Now we’ve got the bomb, we’re working on the delivery system.

[allendale]

Iran’s long range missiles, many sophisticated and stealthy, are how they would counterattack an Israeli attack on their nuclear infrastructure. Hamas was armed and financed by Iran. Their rocket attack on Israel no doubt gave the Iranians the opportunity to study Iron Dome and Israeli defense measures in practice. The Iranians also no doubt have sophisticated short range missiles positioned in Syria and Lebanon. They do not have to be nuclear or chemically armed to do devastating damage. Missiles are a strategic nightmare for Israel.

[SunkenCiv]

> “Iran’s missile power is not negotiable at any level under any pretext,” Rouhani told Yukiya Amano, the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency...

This wouldn’t matter very much if Iran were cleansed of its mullah occupiers.

[Olog-hai]

I wonder if Carter, if he lives to see the first Islamic nuke attack, will still think he did the right thing in not supporting the Shah.