Iranian president says without missiles his country would be ‘just like Gaza’

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian says that, without its missiles, his country would have ended up “just like Gaza,” insisting that its ballistic program is non-negotiable.

“If the missiles we have for our defense did not exist, Israel and the United States would have ploughed Iran just like Gaza, showing no mercy to either the old or the young,” he says during a visit to Pakistan, a key mediator in talks between Tehran and Washington seeking a permanent end to the Middle East war.

“We will never negotiate with anyone, under any circumstances, ever, about our defensive capabilities,” he adds.

Before the war, the United States had sought to include the ballistic missile program, as well as Tehran’s support for armed proxies, in negotiations over Iran’s nuclear activity.

In recent days, US President Donald Trump has appeared to soften his stance on the missiles issue.

“I’m saying that if other countries have them, it’s a little bit unfair for them not to have some,” he said last week at the G7 summit in France.