Tue Apr 14, 2015 2:52
Commander: Iran's Military Capabilities Not Negotiable
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13940125000588

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Ground Force Commander Brigadier General Ahmad Reza
Pourdastan underlined that the Army's military and defense capabilities
would never be an agenda for the ongoing talks between Tehran and the world
powers.

"The power, capability and development of the Army are no subject for the
negotiations with the Group 5+1 (the US, Russia, China, France and Britain
plus Germany)," Brigadier General Pourdastan told reporters on Tuesday.

He underlined that the general policies of the Armed Forces are approved by
the Joint Chief of Staff and the defense issues are by no means subject of
discussion with the West.

Last week in relevant remarks, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed
Forces Brigadier General Massoud Jazzayeri rejected media reports that
inspection of the country's military centers is included in the recent
nuclear statement issued by Iran and the world powers in the Swiss city of
Lausanne.

The Swiss statement does not include allowing inspections of military
centers, Jazzayeri said on Thursday.

"We have not so far permitted inspection of the military centers, and we are
not to do so in the future," he underlined.

His remarks came after the UK Guardian Daily claimed that inspecting Iran's
military centers was mentioned in the Lausanne statement at the end of talks
between Iran and the G5+1 on April 2.

In relevant comments on Wednesday, Iran's Defense Minister Brigadier General
Hossein Dehqan categorically rejected as a "lie" a Guardian report alleging
that Tehran had granted access to its military facilities under the recent
framework agreement with the world powers.

"No such agreement has been made; principally speaking, visit to military
centers is among our redlines and no such visit will be accepted," General
Dehqan stressed on Wednesday, rejecting "the report by foreign media
outlets, such as the Guardian" as "untruthful allegations".

The Iranian defense minister reiterated that the Supreme Leader's
guidelines, government's strategy and the negotiating team's resolve have
placed the Iranian diplomacy on a path that it would never allow the
opposite parties to the talks impose their will on the Iranian nation.

Iran and the G5+1 started their new round of talks in Lausanne, Switzerland,
on March 26 to narrow their differences over Tehran's nuclear energy program
ahead of a July 1 deadline.

After nine days of hard work, the seven nations reached an understanding
last Thursday which laid the ground for them to start drafting the final
nuclear deal.

On Tuesday, Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Major
General Mohammad Ali Jafari underscored that termination of all sanctions
and possession of the full nuclear fuel cycle as Iran's redline in any
nuclear agreement with the world powers.

"In addition to the right of possessing the nuclear enrichment cycle and
Research and Development (R&D), termination of all the relevant sanctions
which are the centerpiece of the Iranian nation's demands are our redline,"
Jafari said, addressing the IRGC commanders in Tehran.