Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Monday that Tehran would never give up on its missile program, claiming the need for deterrence for its security in the Middle East.
Iran has defied Western calls for years to limit its missile program.
The United States and its allies have more recently accused Iran of sending ballistic missiles to Russia for its military campaign against Ukraine, implementing fresh sanctions on Tehran and Moscow.
Both countries have denied these claims.
“If we don’t have missiles, they will bomb us whenever they want, just like in Gaza,” Pezeshkian said, referring to the conflict in Gaza between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas.
The Iranian president reiterated Tehran’s official stance, calling on the international community “to first disarm Israel before making the same demands to Iran.”
Houthi Missile Attack
Pezeshkian also claimed that Tehran has not sent hypersonic missiles to Yemen’s Houthis, a day after the Iran-backed group said a missile it fired at Israel was hypersonic.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would inflict a “heavy price” on the Houthis, who control northern Yemen, after one of their missiles reached central Israel yesterday for the first time.
“It takes a person a week to travel to Yemen [from Iran]. How could this missile have gotten there? We don’t have such missiles to provide to Yemen,” Pezeshkian said.
Last year, Iran presented what it described as Tehran’s first domestically manufactured hypersonic ballistic missile, with state media publishing pictures of the missile named “Fattah” at a ceremony.
