By JPOST.COM STAFF
Iran on Monday welcomed Washington's decision to cancel plans to deploy an anti-ballistic missile system in Eastern Europe.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran welcomes any act that causes a reduction in the conventional arms race," Hassan Qashqavi, spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, was quoted as saying by Iranian PressTV news agency.
According to the report, Qahqavi rejected the claim that the system was meant to face an Iranian missile threat, calling it a baseless political claim.
"Such analyses have no realistic or evidential basis, for, from the beginning, adopting the claim of a missile threat from the Islamic Republic of Iran was an opportunistic and domination-seeking US scam with political aims. Now, with the passage of time, more aspects of the truth of this act have been established," he reportedly said.
The Iranian official went on to claim that the US plan had stemmed from the competition between the US and Russia and from Washington's interest in having more influence over central Europe.
"From the beginning, the Islamic Republic of Iran has seen the basing of the missile system in Eastern Europe as part of the missile [force] rivalries between Russia and the US, and the expansion of the penetration of extra-regional security areas and a continuation of the penetration of the big powers in the Central European countries. This is something bone our by the real events," Qashqavi added.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran welcomes any act or plan which results in the removal of weapons of mass destruction throughout the world, and, considers the removal of nuclear and other destructive weapons by the big powers as a service to world peace and security, if it is real and true," Qashqavi reportedly said in conclusion.
The US announced the abandonment of the ABM system in Poland and the Czech Republic last week, a step welcomed by Russia and many Poles and Czechs.
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