TEHERAN (AFP) – Iran’s outgoing parliament approved a motion on Sunday (May 1) to increase the capabilities of the country’s ballistic missiles, a military programme that has been ruled dangerous by the United Nations.
United States and other Western countries have said the Islamic republic’s missiles threaten the Middle East.
The motion was passed by the lame duck conservative-dominated parliament .
Lawmakers said measures must be taken “to develop and increase ballistic missile capability” and “short, medium and long range anti-aircraft capabilities”. The new parliament will be sworn in later this month.
The ballistic missile programme was not covered by the landmark nuclear deal last summer between Iran and the United States and other leading powers under which sanctions were finally lifted in January.
Under that agreement, Teheran agreed to place curbs on its atomic programme which the West accused Iran of using to develop a bomb.
However the testing of ballistic missiles just months after the nuclear agreement was struck last year has shown the limited reach of the accord as well as highlighting that Iran and the United States remain foes.
The United States hit Iran with fresh sanctions on the missile programme on Jan 17, just 24 hours after nuclear-related sanctions had been lifted under the deal with world powers.
A UN panel said in December that tests conducted two months earlier breached previous resolutions aimed at stopping Teheran from developing missiles capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.

Source: AFP, May 1, 2016