Rouhani Informs Foreign Ministry of 'Countering U.S. Actions' Law

After the Iranian Parliament sent the law known as 'Countering U.S. Actions' to the President, Iranian news agencies reported that this law has been communicated to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for implementation. According to Tasnim News Agency, on Tuesday, October 3, the Iranian President announced the law titled 'Countering U.S. Human Rights Violations and Adventurous and Terroristic Actions in the Region' for execution by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic. The plan, known as countering 'adventurous and terroristic actions of the U.S.', was put on the agenda of the Islamic Consultative Assembly in June this year in response to the U.S. Congress's resolution to intensify sanctions against Iran. In July, the head of the Parliament's Research Center announced that under this plan, one trillion tomans would be allocated to Iran's missile program. This plan, the details of which were later approved by the Parliament in late August, was communicated to the government for implementation after the Guardian Council did not express its opinion within the legal timeframe. Rouhani's action to inform this law comes less than a week after Donald Trump, the U.S. President, stated in his first speech at the United Nations that 'we cannot allow the criminal regime of Iran to continue its destabilizing actions while pursuing its dangerous missile program.' The U.S. government blames Tehran for 'destructive and destabilizing actions,' including ballistic missile tests and support for militia groups in the region, considering these actions contrary to the spirit of the nuclear agreement, under which Iran is supposed to participate in ensuring security and stability at the regional and global levels. Despite such behaviors, although the U.S. has so far confirmed Iran's compliance with the JCPOA and extended the lifting of sanctions related to the nuclear program, it has imposed other sanctions on individuals and entities related to Iran's missile programs. Iran considers these sanctions as indicative of the U.S.'s 'breach of commitment' to the nuclear agreement and has emphasized that it will continue its missile program vigorously despite them. In this context, Hassan Rouhani, the Iranian President, emphasized on Friday, September 22, during a military parade that despite Western countries' opposition, the Islamic Republic's missile program will be 'strengthened.' A day after this ceremony, Iran announced a 'successful test' of the long-range Khorramshahr missile, claimed to have a range of 'two thousand kilometers,' capable of reaching various points in the Middle East and Israel. Israeli officials condemned this missile test as provocative, and the Israeli security cabinet held a meeting on Sunday despite the Jewish New Year holidays. The reactions to this missile test were not limited to Israel; in the U.S., Donald Trump, whose administration's first declared program was 'countering missile threats from Iran and North Korea,' emphasized that this action indicates that there is not much agreement between Iran and the United States. The Khorramshahr ballistic missile, whose 'successful test' was announced on Saturday, had previously been introduced in October 2016 as 'Iran's newest long-range missile' and was also tested in February of the previous year. At that time, after a Security Council meeting to review this missile test, Nikki Haley, the U.S. representative to the United Nations, described the Iranian officials' claims about its defensive nature as 'unacceptable.' In mid-February 2017, the U.S. also imposed sanctions on several Iranian individuals and entities in connection with this missile test.