Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Monday that Iran would continue to build up its military and push ballistic missile development, despite mounting international pressure to restrain its military expansion.
“We have not asked and will not ask for permission to develop different types of … missiles and will continue our path and our military power,” Rouhani said in a speech at a rally marking the 40th anniversary of the Islamic revolution, Reuters reported.
Tens of thousands of Iranians gathered in the capital Tehran to mark the 1979 overthrown of the Iranian monarchy in a revolution that put Islamic fundamentalists in power.
Life-size replicas of Iranian-made cruise and ballistic missiles lined the route in a statement of defiance at a time of heightened tensions with the United States.
Earlier this month the US vowed to pressure Iran to deter its missile program after the Islamic Republic unveiled a new ballistic missile with a range of 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) and tested a new cruise missile, both capable of reaching targets in Israel.
“The United States will continue to be relentless in building support around the world to confront the Iranian regime’s reckless ballistic missile activity,” State Department deputy spokesman Robert Palladino said ina statement.
“Iran’s blatant disregard for international norms must be addressed,” he said.
On Monday, crowds streamed from a dozen of the capital’s far-flung neighborhoods to mass in central Tehran and Tehran Azadi, or Freedom Square, waving Iranian flags and chanting “Death to America” — a chant that has been standard fare at anti-US rallies across Iran.
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