Iran on Thursday rejected pressure to shelve its ballistic missile program after a European letter to the UN Security Council accused Tehran of developing missiles capable of delivering nuclear bombs.
The British, German and French ambassadors to the Council, in a letter circulated on Wednesday, called on UN Secretary-General António Guterres to tell the body in his next report that Iran's missile program was "inconsistent" with a UN resolution underpinning the 2015 nuclear deal reached between Iran and six world powers.
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Iran responded defiantly, saying it was determined to proceed with its missile program, which it has repeatedly described as defensive in purpose and nothing to do with its nuclear activity.
"Iran is determined to resolutely continue its activities related to ballistic missiles and space launch vehicles," Iranian UN envoy Majid Takht-Ravanchi said in a letter to Guterres.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif denounced the European powers' intervention.
"Latest E3 letter to UNSG on missiles is a desperate falsehood to cover up their miserable incompetence in fulfilling bare minimum of their own #JCPOA obligations," Zarif tweeted, referring to the nuclear deal by its formal acronym. He urged Britain, France, and Germany not to bow to "US bullying."
The letter surfaced at a time of heightened friction between Iran and the West. Tehran is rolling back its commitments under the deal step by step in response to Washington's withdrawal from the pact last year and reimposition of sanctions on the Islamic Republic that has crippled its economy.
The Security Council is due to meet later this month on the state of compliance with the resolution underpinning the nuclear deal, and the European letter "will add to that discussion," a senior European diplomat told Reuters.
Britain, France, and Germany have sought to salvage the nuclear pact, under which Iran undertook to curtail its disputed uranium enrichment program in return for relief from sanctions. But Tehran says European powers have failed to shield Iran's economy from US sanctions.
The United States and its allies in the Middle East view Iran's missile program as a Middle East security threat.
