News - Middle East: No country has the right to speak or comment on the Islamic Republic’s defense capabilities, says Iran’s deputy foreign minister, amid the imposition of a new round of US sanctions on Tehran targeting the country’s drone program.

“Iran’s defense capability is a matter of national decision that is intertwined with its national interests and security; therefore, no country has the right to speak or comment on this,” Ali Baqeri-Kani told the Newsmaker program of Russia Today’s Arabic service in an interview published on Friday.

Baqeri-Kani said the same is the case for other countries as well.
“Each country’s defense capability is [only] that country’s business, and each country acts in accordance with its national interests and within the framework of its capabilities to ensure its security and gain adequate deterrent power,” he said.

“No other country has the right to talk about the capabilities and the things (military equipment) that another country possesses to defend its national interests,” he stressed.

On Friday, the US Treasury Department targeted four individuals and two entities with fresh sanctions, saying they were involved in promoting the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) programs of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) and its Quds Force.

Tehran censured the “quite contradictory behavior” of the administration of Joe Biden, which comes in the midst of negotiations to compel Washington to abandon the [Donald] Trump administration’s “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran, sayngi the White House “is sending the message that is not trustworthy at all.”