An Iranian vice president on Tuesday defended Tehran’s ballistic missile capabilities as essential for deterrence, after the US president warned of further attacks if Iran moves to develop its missile program which was severely damaged in a June war.
"Iran must have missiles; without them, we would be defenseless. We must stand for Iran’s dignity," Vice-President for Executive Affairs Mohammad-Jafar Ghaempanah said.
"If we are to bow our heads to whatever the United States says, then tomorrow we will have to answer to future generations."
Mohsen Rezaei, a former commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, wrote on his X account: “Iran’s missile and defense capability is neither negotiable, nor stoppable, nor containable.”
“In the event of any new adventurism, the will and capability of the armed forces to respond to the enemy and defend the Iranian nation will be very different from the past," Rezaei said, responding to Trump's threats.
Trump said on Monday he would support possible Israeli strikes on Iran if the Islamic Republic develops its ballistic missile or nuclear programs, warning Tehran against rebuilding military capabilities destroyed in Israeli and American airstrikes in June.
Speaking to reporters alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Florida, Trump said the United States will deal a heavy blow on Iran if it tries to recover from the US and Israeli strikes in June.
"I'm hearing that Iran is trying to recover—if that happens, we'll have to hit them hard," Trump added.
"If they will continue with the missiles, yes. The nuclear, fast. Okay? One will be yes, absolutely. The other was, we'll do it immediately," Trump said when asked if he would support Israel's strikes on Iran in case it further develops its ballistic missile and nuclear programs.
Ghaempanah said "no regime should have the power to threaten us."
"If our missiles had not been effective against Israel, they would certainly not have proposed a ceasefire," he said.
On June 13, Israel launched a surprise military offensive against Iran, followed by US strikes on June 22 that targeted key nuclear facilities in Isfahan, Natanz and Fordow.
The attacks killed several Iranian nuclear scientists as well as hundreds of military personnel and civilians. Iranian retaliatory strikes killed 32 Israeli civilians and one off-duty soldier.
The 12-day war ended with a ceasefire brokered by Donald Trump.
In a statement, the ministry said Canada’s move violated international law by branding an official branch of Iran’s armed forces as “terrorist,” and said the new designation was a reciprocal response.
Canada listed the IRGC under its Criminal Code in June 2024, a step Ottawa said was aimed at curbing alleged Iranian influence operations and holding Tehran to account over security and human-rights concerns.
The exchange adds to long-running tensions between the two countries. Canada has imposed multiple rounds of sanctions on Iranian officials in recent years and has cited the IRGC’s role in domestic repression as part of its rationale.
Canada severed diplomatic ties with Iran in 2012 and closed its embassy in Tehran, leaving the two countries without formal diplomatic relations.
“We believe it is necessary to develop a dialogue with Iran,” the Kremlin said, urging parties “to refrain from escalation” after President Donald Trump warned Tehran against rebuilding missile and nuclear capabilities.
Trump, speaking Monday alongside Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Florida, said the US would hit Iran hard if it recovers militarily from the June war and that he would back possible Israeli strikes if Iran continues missile development.
Asked about support for strikes, Trump said: “If they will continue with the missiles, yes… The nuclear… absolutely.”
"I hope Iran is not trying to build up, as I've been reading, that they're building up weapons and other things. And if they are, they're not using the sites that we obliterated, but they're using possibly different sites. We know exactly where they're going, what they're doing, and I hope they're not doing it, because we don't want to waste the fuel on B-2, it's a 37-hour trip both ways. I don't want to waste a lot of fuel," he said.
The United States held five rounds of negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program earlier this year, for which Trump set a 60-day deadline.
When no agreement was reached by the 61st day on June 13, Israel launched a surprise military offensive followed by US strikes on June 22 targeting key nuclear facilities in Isfahan, Natanz and Fordow.
The attacks killed nuclear scientists along with hundreds of military personnel and civilians. Iranian counterattacks killed 32 Israeli civilians and an off-duty soldier.
Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons and says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has said dealing with Trump is beneath the dignity of the Islamic Republic, while Iranian officials have rejected US demands to end uranium enrichment and curb missile capabilities.
The satellites were placed into orbit from Russia’s Vostochny Cosmodrome in a multi-payload launch that Iranian officials described as the country’s seventh satellite mission carried out using Russian launch vehicles.
“These satellites were designed and manufactured by Iranian scientists, and both government bodies and the private sector have been involved,” Iran’s ambassador to Russia, Kazem Jalali, said in remarks published ahead of the launch.
“Two of the satellites belong to the government and one belongs to the private sector, and our knowledge-based companies and universities are active in this field.”
Jalali said Iran had continued to advance its space capabilities despite international pressure. “Despite all the threats and sanctions that exist, we have something to say in this field.”
Iran’s space agency chief, Hassan Salarieh, said the launch reflected what he described as Iran’s standing among a small group of countries with end-to-end space capabilities.
“Iran is among 10 or 11 countries in the world that simultaneously possess the capability to design and build satellites, launch vehicles and the infrastructure for launching, receiving data and processing images,” he said.
Salarieh said Iran aimed to expand both the number and precision of its satellites. “What is necessary for us is increasing the number of satellites, improving their accuracy and quality, and developing different classes of satellites,” he said.
Iranian media identified the satellites as Paya, also known as Tolou-3, Zafar-2, and a prototype satellite called Kowsar-1.5. The spacecraft were launched alongside a large cluster of mainly Russian satellites into a sun-synchronous low Earth orbit.
Paya (Tolou-3), built by the Iranian Space Agency, is Iran’s heaviest Earth-observation satellite to date, weighing about 150 kilograms.
Iranian officials say it is capable of producing black-and-white images with a resolution of about five meters and color images with a resolution of around 10 meters, and is intended for applications including agriculture, water management, environmental monitoring and disaster assessment.
Zafar-2, developed by Iran University of Science and Technology, is also an Earth-observation satellite designed for mapping, environmental monitoring and tracking natural hazards.
Kowsar-1.5 combines imaging and internet-of-things capabilities and is aimed primarily at agricultural and farm-monitoring uses, Iranian officials say.
Jalali described Iran’s space cooperation with Russia as extensive and said Moscow’s experience had played a key role.
“Russia is advanced in the space field, including satellites, launch vehicles and satellite launches, and we have been able to transfer part of the technology and work together,” he said.
He also described the Soyuz rocket as highly reliable. “Before Russia’s relations with the West deteriorated, many Western satellites were launched using Soyuz,” Jalali said.
The launch also carried Russian Earth-observation satellites, internet-of-things platforms and university-built spacecraft, according to launch data, as well as satellites from partner countries including Belarus, Kuwait and Montenegro.
Iran says its space program is civilian and focused on scientific and economic goals, but Western governments argue that satellite launch technology overlaps with systems used to develop intercontinental ballistic missiles.