Jan 17, 2016 · TEHRAN — The IranianForeignMinistry criticized the United States for imposing newsanctions related to the country’s missile program, saying the move ...
TEHRAN
— The Iranian Foreign Ministry criticized the United States for
imposing new sanctions related to the country’s missile program, saying
the move was “devoid of any kind of legitimacy and ethical values,” the
semiofficial Mehr news agency reported on Monday.
The sanctions, which the Treasury Department imposed on Sunday against 11 companies and individuals in connection with Iran’s
ballistic missile program, were announced even as others were lifted
and as Iran and the United States said they had reached a deal on an
exchange of prisoners.
Officials
in Tehran said Iran would “respond to such propaganda and disruptive
measures by pursuing its legal missile program more seriously and
enhance its defense and national security capabilities,” and they
pointedly noted arms sales by the United States.
“The
United States’ pretext regarding Iran’s missile defense and deterrent
policy, which itself sells tens of billions of dollars of arms and
sophisticated military hardware to regional countries that have been
conventionally used against nonmilitary personnel of Palestine and recently against civilians in Yemen, is devoid of any kind of legitimacy and ethical values,” the statement said.
“Iran’s
missile system has not been designed to carry nuclear warheads,” the
statement said, “and therefore, it is not at odds with any international
norm.”
Photo
The Iranian poets Fatemeh
Ekhtesari, left, and Mehdi Mousavi. The two, who each faced prison
sentences and 99 lashings, escaped Iran and are said to be safe in an
undisclosed country.Credit
International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, via Associated Press
Separately, two Iranian poets
who were facing prison sentences and 99 lashings each escaped Iran and
were safe in an undisclosed country, The Associated Press reported.
One
of the poets, Fatemeh Ekhtesari, faced 11 and a half years in prison,
and the other, Mehdi Mousavi, was looking at a nine-year term on charges
that included propaganda against the state and “insulting sanctities.”
Correction: January 18, 2016
An earlier version of this article misstated the timing of the sanctions announcement. It was on Sunday, not on Saturday.
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