Tehran Reiterates Rejection of Negotiations Over its Ballistic Missile Program

Photo published by Tasnim Agency on the Iranian military drills in southeast of Iran (Tasnim News)
Photo published by Tasnim Agency on the Iranian military drills in southeast of Iran (Tasnim News)
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Tehran Reiterates Rejection of Negotiations Over its Ballistic Missile Program

Photo published by Tasnim Agency on the Iranian military drills in southeast of Iran (Tasnim News)
Photo published by Tasnim Agency on the Iranian military drills in southeast of Iran (Tasnim News)

Senior Iranian officials have reiterated Tehran’s refusal to return to the table of nuclear negotiations and halt its ballistic missile program.

Secretary General of the Iranian Supreme National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani, said the latest US steps that defied the nuclear deal were “illegal”, stressing that the JCPOA was “indivisible under any circumstances.”

He emphasized that Iran’s missile program and defense capabilities would by no means be subject to negotiations, as reported by Tasnim News Agency.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian accused Iran on Monday of not respecting part of UN Resolution 2231, which calls on Tehran to refrain from work on ballistic missiles designed to carry nuclear warheads.

The Iranian nuclear file was one of the main axes of Le Drian’s meeting with his US counterpart Rex Tillerson in Paris.

He noted that Paris was firmly committed to the principle of the nuclear agreement provided that Iran respected it.

On Tuesday, Iran announced that its army forces have “successfully fired a ‘Nasr’ cruise missile from an onshore mobile launcher to destroy a naval target,” Tasnim News reported.

“The Navy is also going to use long-range cruise missiles in the drill,” it added.

Iranian government Spokesman Mohammad Nobakht said at his weekly conference on Tuesday that Tehran “will not negotiate with any party over its missile capabilities,” as reported by the government’s Mehr agency.

“No one has the right to interfere in this regard with Iran’s affairs,” he was quoted as saying.

“We will not negotiate with anyone in this regard because the defense structure is the right of the Iranian people,” he added.

Iranian reports had pointed out that Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif announced during his meeting in Brussels with the foreign ministers of Germany, France and Britain Tehran’s readiness to negotiate the missile program along with the nuclear file. However, the Iranian Foreign Ministry’s spokesman Bahram Qassemi denied these reports during a press conference last week.



Trump Sets New Deadline of 10 or 12 Days for Russia to Act on Ukraine

 In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, firefighters put out the fire in a fire department school following a Russian air attack in Kropyvnytskyi, Ukraine, Monday, July 28, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, firefighters put out the fire in a fire department school following a Russian air attack in Kropyvnytskyi, Ukraine, Monday, July 28, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
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Trump Sets New Deadline of 10 or 12 Days for Russia to Act on Ukraine

 In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, firefighters put out the fire in a fire department school following a Russian air attack in Kropyvnytskyi, Ukraine, Monday, July 28, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, firefighters put out the fire in a fire department school following a Russian air attack in Kropyvnytskyi, Ukraine, Monday, July 28, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

US President Donald Trump set a new deadline on Monday of 10 or 12 days for Russia to make progress toward ending the war in Ukraine or face consequences, underscoring frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin for the 3-1/2-year-old conflict.

Trump has threatened both sanctions on Russia and buyers of its exports unless progress is made. The fresh deadline suggests the US president is prepared to move forward on those threats after previous hesitation to do so.

Speaking in Scotland, where he is holding meetings with European leaders and playing golf, Trump said he was disappointed in Putin and shortening a 50-day deadline he had set on the issue earlier this month.

"I'm going to make a new deadline of about ... 10 or 12 days from today," Trump told reporters during a meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. "There's no reason in waiting... We just don't see any progress being made."

There was no immediate comment from the Kremlin.

Ukraine welcomed the statement. Andriy Yermak, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's chief of staff, thanked Trump in a social media post for "standing firm and delivering a clear message of peace through strength."

Trump, who has expressed annoyance also with Zelenskiy, has not always followed tough talk about Putin with action, citing what he deems a good relationship that the two men have had previously.

On Monday, Trump indicated he was not interested in more talks with Putin. He said sanctions and tariffs would be used as penalties for Moscow if it did not meet Trump's demands.

"There's no reason to wait. If you know what the answer is going to be, why wait? And it would be sanctions and maybe tariffs, secondary tariffs," Trump said. "I don't want to do that to Russia. I love the Russian people."

Ukraine had proposed a summit between Putin and Zelenskiy before the end of August, but the Kremlin has said that timeline was unlikely and that a meeting could only happen as a final step to clinch peace.

Russia's foreign ministry said on Saturday that if the West wanted real peace with Ukraine, it would stop supplying Kyiv with weapons.

Trump has repeatedly voiced exasperation with Putin for pursuing attacks on Ukraine despite US efforts to end the war. Trump has played up successes in other parts of the world where the United States has helped to broker peace agreements and has been flattered by some leaders who suggest he should be given the Nobel Peace Prize.

"I'm disappointed in President Putin," Trump said on Monday. "I'm going to reduce that 50 days that I gave him to a lesser number because I think I already know the answer what's going to happen."

Trump, who is also struggling to achieve a peace deal in Gaza, has touted his role in ending conflicts between India and Pakistan as well as Rwanda and Congo. Before returning to the White House in January, Trump campaigned on a promise to end Russia's conflict with Ukraine in a day.

"We thought we had that settled numerous times, and then President Putin goes out and starts launching rockets into some city like Kyiv and kills a lot of people in a nursing home or whatever," Trump said. "And I say that's not the way to do it."