Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Sayed Ali Khamenei paid a visit to Army of the Guardians Aerospace Force achievements show today to reiterate Iran’s determination to development of its military power.
While Iran and the five members of the UN Security Council plus Germany are to start drafting the text of a comprehensive nuclear agreement on May 13, Ayatollah Khamenei said that the West’s expectation of limiting Iran’s missile program is foolish.
While the P5+1, led by the United States, has insisted that Iran’s ballistic missile program will be on the table in any comprehensive agreement, Iran repeatedly rejected any issue other than the nuclear program should be part of the negotiations.
“I always supported creativity in the foreign policy and the negotiations and always advise officials to apply utmost creativity in the international interactions. But the country’s needs and issues like sanctions should not be tied to the negotiations. The authorities should resolve the sanctions in a different way,” Iran’s Leader said today.
Iran and the P5+1 reached a landmark nuclear interim deal in Geneva on November 24, 2013 in which Iran agreed to dilute some of its 20% enriched uranium stockpile to a lower concentration and convert some into oxide.
Although the agreement came into force on January 20 but Iranian officials believes US failed to meet its commitments to easing of sanctions.
“[The West] expect to limit Iran’s missile program while they are threatening Iran with military action. Such expectations are foolish and idiotic.”
Iran’s IRGC displayed its latest aerospace achievements which include modern designation of ballistic missile systems and production of advanced drones.
During his two-hour visit from the IRGC exhibition, Ayatollah Khamenei also watched a recorded video of Iranian drones filming USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier. he then went to visited a captured American RQ-170 sentinel drone and its Iranian version that was manufactured by IRGC Aerospace Force through reverse engineering.
On 4 December 2011, an American Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was captured by Iranian forces near the city of Kashmar in northeastern Iran.
The Iranian government announced that the UAV was brought down by its cyberwarfare unit which commandeered the aircraft and safely landed it, after initial reports from Western news sources inaccurately claimed that it had been “shot down”. The United States government initially denied the claims but later President Obama acknowledged that the downed aircraft was a US drone and requested Iran to return it.
But Obama’s request rejected one day later by Iranian officials which urged US to apologize to the Iranian nation because of violating the country’s aerospace.
Below are Photos of Iran’s Leader visiting Aerospace Force of the IRGC exhibition:
