The Iranian President Hassan Rouhani yesterday issued the Defence Minister Hossein Dehghan with orders to expand Iran’s missile programme in response to American threats to impose sanctions on his country after Iran conducted a ballistic missile test.

This tension came after a relative calm in Iranian- American relations since Tehran signed an agreement with the P5+1 group to curb its nuclear activities on the 14th of July last year.

Informed sources reported on Wednesday night that Washington is considering imposing new sanctions on Iranian companies and individuals because of the medium-range Emad rocket test that Iran carried out on the 10th of October last year. The dispute centres on the type of rockets that Iran is permitted to develop and whether they are able to or designed to carry warheads.

Rouhani said in a letter to the Defence Minister Hossein Dehghan that “As the US government is clearly still pursuing its hostile policies and illegal intervention, the armed forces need to quickly and significantly increase their missile capability”.

The spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry Hussein Jaber Al-Ansari yesterday defended the Iranian missile programme and said that it is not linked to the nuclear deal.

In Washington, Republican members of Congress severely attacked Iran yesterday after being informed that missiles were launched in the Strait of Hormuz near American and French warships a few days ago, and they said that they will present a draft resolution to Congress to impose additional sanctions on Iran.