Iran calls on West to scrap arms before talks

TEHERAN - A senior Iranian military official said on Saturday that Iran will not negotiate its missile program unless Europe and the United States destroy their nuclear weapons and missiles.

"What Americans say out of desperation about exerting restrictions on Iran's missile capabilities is their unreachable dream," Deputy Chief of Staff of Iran's Armed Forces Brigadier General Massoud Jazayeri said.

The US' concerns about Iran's nuclear power stems from "their failures and defeats in the region", Jazayeri said.

Development of Iran's defense power has put the US in a weaker position, he said, adding that US forces should leave the region.

"The precondition for talks on Iran's missiles program is the dismantling of US and Europe's nuclear weapons and long-range missiles," Jazayeri said.

Under US pressure, Europe had urged Iran to start negotiations on the country's developing missile program.

Iran has reiterated that its military forces will keep boosting defense capabilities and deterrent power.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry announced that Iran does not allow any interference in its domestic affairs and defensive policies, especially its missile program.

However, France's foreign minister told Iran ahead of a visit to Teheran on Monday that the country needed to address concerns over its ballistic missile program or risk new sanctions.

"There are ballistic programs of missiles that can reach several thousand kilometers which are not compatible with UN Security Council resolutions and exceed the sole need of defending Iran's borders," Jean-Yves Le Drian told the Journal du Dimanche newspaper.

"If not tackled head on, this country risks new sanctions," he added.

Separately, Iran confirmed that the foreign minister had met with his former US counterpart John Kerry on the sidelines of a Munich meeting last month.

The New Yorker magazine earlier reported that Kerry had urged Teheran not to abandon a 2015 nuclear deal, despite tensions with the administration of US President Donald Trump.

On Friday, the New Yorker reported that during a meeting, which it said was attended by others involved in the nuclear deal, "Kerry quietly urged the Iranians not to abandon the deal or violate its terms - whatever the Trump administration does".

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi, quoted by the IRNA news agency, said that Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif "has always met on the sidelines of such international summits with attending personalities and elites ... in the framework of preserving Iranian interests".

Zarif had met on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference with "John Kerry and Ernest Moniz, foreign and energy ministers of the previous US government, who have a critical attitude toward Trump administration policies", Qasemi said.

Xinhua - Reuters