In his address on Tuesday, Trump pointed to Tehran’s support for militant groups, its killing of protesters and the country’s missile and nuclear programmes as threats to the region and the United States.
Without providing evidence, Trump said that Tehran was beginning to rebuild the nuclear programme that he claimed had been “obliterated” by US airstrikes last June on three major sites involved with uranium enrichment.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday referred to Iran’s ballistic missile programme in less definitive terms than Trump, saying that Tehran is “on a pathway to one day being able to develop weapons that could reach the continental US.”
Iran denies seeking a nuclear arsenal, saying its enrichment of uranium – a process that produces fuel for power plants and nuclear warheads depending on its duration – is strictly for civilian uses.
In an interview with India Today TV released on Wednesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi denied that Iran was expanding its missile capabilities.
“We are not developing long range missiles. We have limited range to below 2000km intentionally,” he said. “We don’t want it to be a global threat. We only have (them) to defend ourselves. Our missiles build deterrence.”
WEAPONS PROGRAMME SHUTTERED IN 2003, ACCORDING TO IAEA
The US intelligence community and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the U.N. nuclear watchdog, have said that Iran shuttered a nuclear weapons development programme in 2003.
But according to the IAEA, Tehran has in recent years continued enriching uranium, including to near weapons-grade.
Trump has threatened to attack Iran if it executes people arrested during nationwide anti-government protests in January or fails to agree a deal on its nuclear programme in talks with the US.
Iran has the largest ballistic missile force in the Middle East, with its missiles able to strike Israel, US bases in the region and parts of Europe.”
It also has developed so-called space-launch vehicles that have put satellites into orbit and that experts say could be modified into ICBMs that could loft nuclear warheads.
While SLVs loft satellites, ICBMs release re-entry vehicles that protect warheads from the high temperatures and forces produced by hurtling down through the Earth’s atmosphere.
But David Albright, a former UN nuclear inspector, said Iran was a long way away from being able to mount atop a missile a nuclear warhead-carrying re-entry vehicle that could survive the extreme heat and forces of plunging through Earth’s atmosphere.
“Iran can launch a very long-range missile because of its space launch programme ,” said Albright, the president of the Institute for Science and International Security think tank. “But it needs lots of work to develop an adequate RV (re-entry vehicle).”
Albright and other experts noted that Israeli airstrikes last year and in 2024 had badly damaged key facilities where Tehran produces liquid- and solid-fuel ballistic missiles.