Iran rejects US threat to use military option as “worthless”

Brian Hook, the US Special Representative for Iran, said Tuesday that the White House was willing to take military action against Tehran to prevent the country from what he called “acquiring nuclear weapons”.

“The military option is always on the table,” the US pointman on Iran said in a visit to Jerusalem al-Quds.

On Wednesday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi strongly condemned the threatening remarks as “baseless and worthless.”

The US’ military option against Iran is “a molded option that has been collecting dust for years on the table of the delusional presidents of the United States,” Mousavi noted.

The spokesman said the real threat to the region is the destructive and destabilizing presence of the US in the region, which has turned the Middle East into a number of military bases.

“As long as the US officials talk about the military option against the Iranian nation being on the table, even though in vain, and delay their withdrawal from the region, the Islamic Republic of Iran will spare no legitimate efforts to boost its military power with reliance on domestic capabilities,” he added.

It is Iran’s inalienable right to enhance its defensive capabilities in order to defend the national interests of Iranians, he stated.

Mousavi said Tehran’s principled policy in the military sector is absolutely clear and the nature of this program is totally defensive.

He further pointed to the US’ “desperate” attempt to convince other members of the UN Security Council to extend an arms embargo against Iran, which is to expire in October as per Security Council Resolution 2231.

“Brian Hook has held consultations about the arms embargo on Iran while his country and a number of its allies are in possession of hundreds of atomic bombs and other weapons of mass destruction, and, at the same time, are not cooperating with the International Atomic Energy Agency and other international institutions at all,” Mousavi noted.

The spokesman said Washington has practically “turned the region into a powder keg” with the mass sale of advanced arms and equipment to its regional allies, which are still being used against the oppressed people of Yemen, Palestine, Iraq, Syria and other regional nations.

In a virtual meeting of the Security Council on Tuesday, the US was sharply criticized for its push to have the UNSC extend the arms ban on Iran, whose removal has been enshrined in the 2015 nuclear deal, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

At the event, the US was reminded by other UNSC members that it was no longer a party to the Iran deal and could not resort to the related resolution to keep the arms ban in place.

In comments on Wednesday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said the UNSC meeting once again put on display another American political defeat for the world to see.

“Over the past three and a half years and ever since the new US administration [of President Donald Trump] took office, we have been witnessing lawlessness in addition to illegal and inhumane acts against the Islamic Republic,” Rouhani said at a cabinet meeting in Tehran.