Iran’s deputy chief of the Islamic Republic’s revolutionary guards, Brigadier General Hossein Salami, warned Europe against threatening Tehran, saying it would force it to expand the range of its ballistic missiles to above 2,000 kilometers, which would provide the Revolutionary guards with the capability to target European capitals. General Salami said that “So far” the Islamic Republic felt that “Europe is not a threat,” so the Revolutionary Guards did not increase the range of its missiles. “But, if Europe wants to turn into a threat, Iran will have no-other-choice but to increase the range of its missiles.” At present, Iran has one of the Middle East’s largest missile programs and some of its precision-guided missiles have the range to strike its regional-enemies, including Saudi Arabia and Israel. That said, while Iran has repeatedly claimed its missile-program was meant solely for defensive purposes, Western powers have condemned its ballistic missile program, which experts assert “could carry a nuclear payload,” effectively breaching UN Security Council Resolution 2231, which explicitly calls on Iran in the document’s Annex B, sub-section 3: “not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using such ballistic missile technology.” Iranian officials, however, have rejected any demand to limit its ballistic missile activities, claiming the resolution’s referral to its ballistic-related program was more of an “advisory”, rather than a binding-demand. Nevertheless, in an effort to preserve the 2015 nuclear agreement – officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action – that after Washington decided to declare the Islamic Republic in non-compliance with the international deal; France, in cooperation with other European states, has called for an uncompromising dialogue with Iran about its ballistic missile program and a possible negotiation over the issue separate from the 2015 nuclear agreement. Paris hopes the focus on Iran’s ballistic-missile-program would satisfy Washington, that would consequently shift its consideration from nixing the nuclear agreement. The French call, however, has angered the Islamic Republic – which declared its ballistic activities as non-negotiable; prompting the latest threats by Iran’s revolutionary Guards, which is in charge of Tehran’s ballistic missiles, to threaten Europe of military consequences.
