The Iranian government announced Thursday that limits on its large force of ballistic missiles will not be part of negotiations with the U.S. during talks following the signing of a peace deal.
“Our missiles do not like at all to be talked about by anyone,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei told Iranian state television.
“Iranian missiles are only for firing, not for negotiations. Iran’s defense capability will not be discussed in any way, in any process or with any party,” he said, Agence France-Presse reported.
The comments follow earlier official Iranian statements that its missiles are purely defensive.
The memorandum of understanding signed by President Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian seeks to end the regional war that began Feb. 28 with U.S. and Israeli strikes.
The new pact outlines plans for talks on Iran’s damaged nuclear program and the lifting of sanctions on Tehran.
The destruction of Iran’s large missile forces was a key element of the American rationale for launching the attacks, along with ending the nuclear program and halting Iran’s backing for international terrorist groups.
Mr. Trump reversed himself on the threat posed by Iranian ballistic missiles in concluding the peace deal, saying he now believes Tehran should be allowed to keep its missiles and that it would be unfair if they did not.
Prior to the conflict, Mr. Trump said during his State of the Union address that Iranian missiles posed a direct threat requiring action.
“They’ve already developed missiles that can threaten Europe and our bases overseas, and they’re working to build missiles that will soon reach the United States of America,” he said.
A Defense Intelligence Agency report on the Golden Dome missile defense system made public in 2025 stated that Iran is expected to have 60 intercontinental ballistic missiles by 2035.
During the conflict, on March 2, Mr. Trump said U.S. war objectives included destroying Iranian missile capabilities and the capacity to build new ones.
But at the G7 summit this week, Mr. Trump said Tehran should be permitted to maintain a ballistic missile force because other nations in the region have them.
“If other countries have them, it’s a little bit unfair for Iran not to have some,” Mr. Trump said on Wednesday.
Earlier during a press conference in France, he said: “If Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and they all have some, I would say that in relative proportion, I think it’s OK” for Iran to keep ballistic missiles.
“Missiles aren’t the problem,” Mr. Trump said. “They hurt a little location, but they don’t blow up the planet [as nuclear weapons do].”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters early in the conflict that destroying Iranian missiles and missile production capabilities were objectives. Other goals were destroying nuclear material and infrastructure, and the Iranian navy.
Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the three military objectives of Operation Epic Fury were to destroy Iran’s ballistic missile and drone capabilities, destroy the Iranian navy, and destroy Tehran’s defense industrial base to prevent the projection of power outside its borders.
“Over the course of 38 days of major combat operation, the joint force achieved the military objectives as defined by the president,” Gen. Caine said in April.
Iran’s stockpiles of both ballistic missiles and armed drones, however, remain in the thousands, according to Defense Intelligence Agency Direct Lt. Gen. James H. Adams.
Gen. Adams told the House Armed Services subcommittee on intelligence and special operations April 16 that the remnants of the Iranian regime remain in control and are expected to employ asymmetric warfare tactics against the U.S. and Israel during the conflict.
“Despite significant degradation of Iranian military capabilities through coalition strikes during Operation Epic Fury, Tehran retains thousands of missiles and one-way attack [unmanned aerial vehicles] capable of threatening U.S. and partner forces throughout the region,” Gen. Adams stated in testimony.
The three-star intelligence chief also testified that key Iranian officials were eliminated and the Iranian military was significantly degraded, with the destruction of naval forces.
Additionally, DIA predicts that if the Islamist regime survives the conflict, military capabilities will be rebuilt for defending against foreign attacks and to control domestic dissent, Gen. Adams said.
Iran also sought prior to the February launch of the conflict to bolster defenses and strengthen military shortfalls through buying replacement weapons from China and Russia.
Mr. Trump thanked both Beijing and Moscow for remaining neutral during the war, despite U.S. intelligence reports indicating both countries provided covert intelligence and targeting support and some weapons and ammunition.
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