US President Donald Trump on Wednesday defended a newly signed memorandum of understanding with Iran, saying it would be “somewhat unfair” for Tehran not to have ballistic missiles if other countries in the region did.These statements came shortly after the signing of the agreement on Wednesday between the two sides and before it entered into force, while Trump was speaking to reporters in Paris on the sidelines of the G7 summit.“I say that if other countries have it, it’s somewhat unfair that they don’t have some,” Reuters quoted Trump as saying.He added that the evaluation should be applied in a regional context.“If Saudi Arabia and Qatar, all of them, have some of that, I would say that in proportion, I think it’s OK,” he said.Trump also said that US forces would maintain their presence in the Gulf for a period after the agreement.Trump has sought to distinguish between nuclear weapons and missile systems, arguing that the latter do not carry the same level of global risk.The Times of Israel quoted him as saying: “Missiles are not the problem… They cause damage somewhere, but they do not blow up the planet (as nuclear weapons do).”He added that issues related to missiles will remain part of the follow-up negotiations.
Trump’s statements indicate a reset of Washington’s position on Iran’s ballistic missile program, which Israel has consistently called for to be dismantled as part of any broader settlement.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly claimed that Iran’s missile capability forms part of a broader security threat linked to its nuclear program and regional activities.However, Trump said the issue would not be treated at the same level as nuclear weapons.The US President said: “A ballistic missile is not the same thing we are talking about when we talk about a nuclear weapon.”A US official told Reuters that Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signed the memorandum after it was signed electronically on Sunday by US Vice President J.D. Vance and Iranian chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, while Trump witnessed the previous signing process.In a separate context, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ismail Baghaei said, quoted by the IRNA news agency: “The text of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding has been finalized with the signatures of the presidents – and now it is time to test the implementation of the agreement.”Despite this assertion, the United States has not publicly released the full text of the agreement.The interim arrangement is expected to serve as a basis for further negotiations, and discussions are set to continue over the coming weeks as the two sides attempt to transform the framework into a more comprehensive settlement.
