Defense minister:

Iran missile program will continue unabated

Rasa - Iran’s new Defense Minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami says the missile program of the Islamic Republic will push ahead relentlessly, vowing to continue activities of the country’s defense industry.

News ID: 431828

Date: 20 August 2017 - 23:42

RNA - “[Iran’s] missile program will proceed according to the approved plans,” Hatami told reporters on Sunday following the first cabinet session of the newly-formed Iranian government.

In response to a question about some foreign countries’ pressure on Iran to stop its missile program, he added that such activities “would not be affected by any type of pressure.”

The Iranian defense minister vowed to continue activities related to the country’s defense industry “with utmost power” and emphasized that the Islamic Republic “will not allow any suspension in the work of the Defense Ministry even for one day.”

All but one of President Hassan Rouhani's proposed ministers, the nominee for the ministry of energy, won the Iranian parliament's vote of confidence on Sunday. The president has not presented his nominee for the post of the minister of science, research and technology.

The new minister of defense received the highest number of votes, with 261 lawmakers supporting him. Only 10 MPs voted against him while 13 others abstained.

Briefing a group of lawmakers on his future plans on Saturday, Hatami said that the current situation was special as the enemies had imposed sanctions on Iran’s military in a bid to weaken it, pledging to continue boosting the country’s missile program.

“The enemy is stationed in the region, brings weapons to the region and tries to damage the country’s defensive might, but we have set objectives in our plan to counter the move,” he added.

The Iranian general also hailed achievements made in both missile and defense industry sectors and stressed that this trend should continue.

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