Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian said today that his country will never give up its missile program because it needs its deterrent effect to ensure its security in a region where the staunch its enemy Israel is capable of "launching rockets on Gaza every day", reported Reuters, quoted by BTA.
"If we don't have rockets, they will bomb us whenever they want, just like in Gaza," Pezeshkian said, referring to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group "Hamas".
He again reiterated Tehran's official position, calling on the international community to "disarm Israel first before making the same request to Iran".
The Islamic Republic has for years defied Western calls to curb its missile program, according to Reuters.
The US and its allies recently accused Iran of providing ballistic missiles to Russia for its war in Ukraine and imposed new sanctions on Moscow and Tehran. Both sides denied this accusation.
In response to a question about whether Iran had sent missiles to Russia, Pezeshkian replied that "it is possible that there have been such deliveries in the past... but I can assure you that since I took office there have been no such deliveries to Russia".
Pezeshkian said, however, that Iran could hold direct talks with the US if Washington shows "in practice" that it is not hostile to the Islamic Republic.
He said this at a press conference in Tehran in response to a question about whether Iran would be open to direct talks with the US to revive the 2015 nuclear deal.
Former US President Donald Trump pulled his country out of the deal in 2018, arguing that it was too generous to Tehran. He reinstated tough US sanctions against Iran, prompting Tehran to gradually begin violating the restrictions stipulated in the nuclear deal, Reuters notes.
"We are not hostile to the US, they should stop their hostile attitude towards us by showing their goodwill in practice," Pezeshkian said. "We are also brothers with the Americans," he added.