TEHRAN: Iran denounced new US sanctions on its missile programme on Monday but pushed ahead with international cooperation after a historic deal on its nuclear programme.

Iran’s foreign ministry decried the new measures as “illegitimate”, with spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari insisting the missile programme has no link with the nuclear issue.

“Iran’s missile programme has never been designed to be capable of carrying nuclear weapons,” he was quoted as saying by the ISNA news agency.

He said Iran would respond by “accelerating its legal ballistic missile programme and boosting defence capabilities”.

Defence Minister Hossein Dehghan said the new sanctions would have “no effect”, telling the Fars news agency: “We will prove it in practice by unveiling new missile achievements.”

Meanwhile, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said the European Union would discuss this week whether it needed to impose new sanctions on Iran.

Published in Dawn, January 19th, 2016