{"id":30948,"date":"2019-01-28T19:23:25","date_gmt":"2019-01-28T19:23:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=30948"},"modified":"2019-01-28T19:23:25","modified_gmt":"2019-01-28T19:23:25","slug":"iran-cannot-confirm-secret-talks-with-france-on-tehrans-missile-work-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=30948","title":{"rendered":"Iran cannot confirm secret talks with France on Tehran\u2019s missile work"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\nDUBAI: Iran said on Monday it was not holding talks with France over its ballistic missile development, after Paris said it was ready to impose more sanctions if European attempts to address the program in discussions with Tehran made no progress.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThere have been no talks, whether secret or not secret, about our missile program with France or any other country,\u201d Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi told a weekly news conference, broadcast live on state TV.<\/p>\n

\nLe Drian said on Friday France was ready to impose further curbs if no progress was made in talks over the program, described by Tehran as purely defensive but seen in the West as a destabilizing factor in a volatile region.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cOur missile program is a defensive program that we only discuss it inside the country. I cannot confirm holding any secret talks with France over our missile program,\u201d Qasemi said, when asked about Le Drian\u2019s remarks.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cWe talk about regional and political issues with France … but our missile capability is not negotiable … we have repeatedly said that during our political talks with France.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nA UN Security Council resolution, which enshrined Iran\u2019s 2015 nuclear deal with major powers in 2015, \u201ccalled upon\u201d Tehran to refrain for up to eight years from work on ballistic missiles designed to deliver nuclear weapons.<\/p>\n

\nIran says its missile tests are not in violation of the resolution and denies its missiles are capable of carrying nuclear warheads.<\/p>\n

\nUS President Donald Trump exited the deal in May and reimposed sanctions on Iran that had been lifted under the pact in return for Tehran curbing its nuclear program.<\/p>\n

\nAs the Trump administration accused Iran last year of harboring nuclear ambitions and fomenting instability in the Middle East, the EU sought dialogue with Tehran.<\/p>\n

\nAt meetings between European and Iranian diplomats last year, Britain, France, Germany and Italy, pressed for gestures on Iran\u2019s role in Syria\u2019s war and for help to end the conflict in Yemen.<\/p>\n

\nBut several bilateral talks on the ballistic missile program have yielded no results and France, Britain and Germany are now considering whether to push for sanctions and asset freezes and travel bans on Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guards and Iranians developing the Islamic Republic\u2019s ballistic missile program, diplomats have said.<\/p>\n

\nTrump said the deal, which Tehran and other signatories are trying to salvage it, was flawed as it did not address ballistic missiles or Iran\u2019s support for armed proxies in Syria, Yemen, Lebanon and Iraq.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DUBAI: Iran said on Monday it was not holding talks with France over its ballistic missile development, after Paris said it was ready to impose more sanctions if European attempts to address the program in discussions with Tehran made no progress. \u201cThere have been no talks, whether secret or not secret, about our missile program…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":30949,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30948"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30948\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/30949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}