The Iranian missile program is seen as a threat by the world leader's at the G7 summit and is strongly opposed by the United States and the European Union.  This program is one of the jewels of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), which has been placed on the Foreign Terrorist Organization list (FTO) by the U.S.

Since pulling the U.S. out of the nuclear deal last year, the Trump administration has pushed a maximum pressure policy to force Iran into a new negotiation that would include its ballistic missile program and regional activities.

European leaders have struggled to tamp down the confrontation between Iran and the United States in the G7 Summit meeting.  However, an Iranian official said, "Iran's ballistic missile program cannot and will not be negotiated.  We have underlined it clearly and openly."

The Iranian opposition coalition, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, held a press conference at its Washington, D.C. office in June 2017 to present new information about missile development and testing in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Iran's missile program has been in development since the mid-eighties, and it has been advancing at an increasing speed in recent years.  Iran now has the largest and most diverse arsenal in the whole of the Middle East.

NCRI officials reported that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei had ordered relevant institutions to accelerate missile activities in the aftermath of the nuclear agreement that went into effect in January of 2016.

There have been numerous calls for the regime to put a stop to its program, but Iran has just ramped up its activity.

When the negotiations were taking place for the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, former U.S. president Barack Obama omitted to address the Iranian regime's ballistic missile activity, because it would threaten the integrity of his political golden child, the Iran deal.

In recent years, Iran has conducted a number of tests that violate U.N. Security Council Resolution 2231.  These violations were partly addressed in a 2016 joint letter penned by the U.S., England, France, and Germany to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, which stated, "Iran's recent ballistic tests involved missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons and were "inconsistent with" and "in defiance of" council resolution 2231, adopted July of 2015.  Resolution 2231 "calls upon Iran not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using such ballistic missile technology."

The U.N. Security Council concluded that Iran had breached Resolution 2231 because the missiles were capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.  Iran has also made a big deal out of its new short-range missiles.

Iran claims that its missile program exists only for defense purposes, but in actual fact, Iran has been attempting to distribute precision missiles among its proxies, such as the Houthis and Hezb'allah, since 2013.  At least 32 people were killed recently in a missile attack by the Houthi movement on a military parade in Yemen on August 1.

General Hassan Tehrani-Moghaddam oversaw the missile program, putting it to the forefront of the country's military priorities.  Technicians were able to essentially reverse-engineer Scud technology.  General Hassan was killed during an explosion in one of the research facilities.

According to Reuters, on August 29, an Iranian satellite launch failed due to technical issues.  An Iranian official admitted that a rocket had exploded on its launch pad at the Imam Khomeini Space Center in northern Iran before its scheduled launch on Thursday.

The regime's strategy is focused on hiding its utter weakness internally and the corruption crisis it is facing at home as dissent continues across the country and the MEK's Resistance Units gain momentum.

The best policy would be maintaining pressure on the regime and providing the mullahs no breathing room while Iran's people seek to settle scores with the ruling clerics.

The people of Iran welcome the pressure the international community is putting on the regime because it will contribute greatly to the collapse of clerical rule.  For decades, the regime has been running riot — both at home and abroad — and the people are desperate for it to stop.

Perviz S. Khazai is a law graduate and former apprentice diplomat in the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in IIAP (ENA) Paris, in the United Nations in Geneva, in Red Cross International, in the Council of Europe in Strasbourg and International Court of Justice, and in The Hague 1969–1971.  He served as an international law expert of foreign affairs in Tehran 1976–1979.  He served as the head of the mission and acting ambassador in Norway and Sweden in 1979–1982.  He is now a representative of the NCRI in northern Europe.