Portions of US government aim to harm JCPOA: Analyst

Press TV has interviewed Steven Kelley, a political commentator and military analyst, to discuss the remarks made by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif that the Islamic Republic’s missile capability is not negotiable.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: Give us your thoughts, first of all, on the recent comments made by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

Kelley: Well, first of all, in a perfect world, there would be no need for any weapons and any need for defense, but, in a broad picture, if we look at the weapons sales, well just the United States of course... our economy depends on weapons sales and the export of weapons, and Saudi Arabia has just become the third largest purchaser of weapons.

So looking at the damage that’s being done to the civilians in Iraq and the weapons that are being used there and some of them are very questionable, the cluster bombs and things that should be illegal, they were more than happy to sell to those people to be used on the people of Yemen. They really have no business to talk and that is unfortunate.

Press TV: A lot of observers and critics of the situation pretty much were foreseeing that following the implementation of the JCPOA, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, and the resolving of the nuclear issue with Iran, the United States would pretty much pinpoint some other aspect in order to try and basically put some more pressure on the Islamic Republic. Were you predicting that sort of activity and approach from the United States as well?

Kelley: Well, this is an election season and we do have these different parties and one side is always going to be unhappy and of course there are large portions of the government over here that’s completely against the deal that was made and would like to work very hard to scuttle the whole thing.

Donald Trump has said that he would like to take another look at it and I think that is mainly to appease AIPAC; but I suspect that is to be expected.

When they came out and said that they were against the purchase of the Su-30s, I believe it is, they were trying to suggest that that had something to do with the ballistic issues of the agreement; but that was a little far-fetched. So, there is always going to be some complaints, I think, and that is just to be expected also.

Press TV: We have also seen a lot of inconsistency with the US foreign policy as Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif pointed out himself. He called on the United States to stop exporting weapons which are used to kill civilians. How far does that go in highlighting this issue when it comes to the United States and its arms sales?

Kelley: Well, modern warfare, it seems like, it is becoming more and more focused on the civilian populations of the countries that are being targeted and this is a growing trend.

Again, as long as the military industrial complex is a major force in the American economy and has the power to influence the elections and the candidates, this is probably something that’s going to continue. Obviously, this is something that needs to stop, but until that aspect of our society is shut down, I do not see it going away.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk