Kamal\u00a0Kharrazi met EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini on Sunday during her visit to Tehran on the occasion of President Rouhani\u2019s swearing-in ceremony, and discussed a range of topics with the top EU official, including the stance of three European countries on Iran\u2019s recent test-launch of a satellite rocket.<\/p>\n
\u201cI told Ms. Mogherini that Simorgh space rocket has been solely designed as a satellite carrier and has nothing to do with nuclear or non-nuclear warheads,\u201d Kharrazi said.<\/p>\n
He went on to add, \u201cMs. Mogherini had no proper response when I asked her about the reasoning behind the three European countries\u2019 joint statement with US in condemning Simorgh\u2019s test-launch as a breach of UN Security Council Resolution 2231, because it is perfectly clear that the rocket has not been designed to carry warheads.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately, the US pressures work on these countries to the point where they ignore the facts,\u201d Kharrazi said, adding \u201cbut we need to remind them of the reality of what we do, which is exactly in compliance with the nuclear deal, and that it is other sides to the deal which are violating it.\u201d<\/p>\n
On July 27, Iran launched its domestically-manufactured Simorgh carrier, whose mission is to put Iranian satellites into the orbit. Following the launch, US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert\u00a0told reporters that the launch could be a “violation of UN Security Council resolutions.”<\/p>\n
Three European allies of the US, including Britain, France, and Germany, in a joint statement on July 29 condemned the test as a breach of UN Security Council Resolution 2231, urging Tehran to halt all its missile activities. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, in a meeting with Federica Mogherini on Saturday, Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif said the move by the European states to join the US had been \u201ca move in the wrong direction.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TEHRAN, Aug. 07 \u2013 Head of Iran’s Strategic Council on Foreign Relations said EU foreign policy chief Mogherini had no answer to European troika\u2019s backing of US on issuing a statement against Iran\u2019s recent test-launch of a satellite rocket.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":14,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11,16],"tags":[13454,33885,32446,12870],"class_list":["post-101703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-council","category-news","tag-european-union-en","tag-federica-mogherini-en-2","tag-iran-missile-program-en","tag--en"],"yoast_head":"\n