Iran’s leader lashes back at Trump

New ballistic missile unveiled during parade

Escalating a war of words with the United States, President Hassan Rouhani of Iran declared Friday that his country would continue to develop new missiles and “would not seek anyone’s permission to defend our land.”

As he spoke at a military parade in Tehran, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps unveiled a ballistic missile with a range of about 1,250 miles, making it capable of reaching much of the Middle East, including Israel.

Rouhani’s nationally televised speech at the parade — which commemorates the Iran-Iraq War of 1980-88 — and the show of force were a display of defiance toward President Donald Trump, who signed a bill in August imposing mandatory penalties on those involved in Iran’s ballistic missile program and anyone who does business with them.

Although U.N. provisions seek to limit ballistic missile technology, the nuclear agreement negotiated in 2015 by Iran and six world powers, including the United States, does not prohibit Iran from developing such weapons.

At the annual U.N. gathering in New York this week, Trump called the nuclear deal “an embarrassment to the United States.”

Upon his return from New York, Rouhani strongly defended Iran’s right to self-defense. “We will increase our military power as a deterrent,” he said.

The unveiling of the missile, called the Khoramshahr, comes two months after Iran launched a missile into space, prompting a new round of sanctions and criticism from the United States.

The state-run news agency IRNA quoted the chief of the Revolutionary Guards’ airspace division, Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, as saying that the new missile “can carry several warheads for various uses.”