An Iranian Hawk surface-to-air missile. Iran supplies its ally Hezbollah with ballistic missiles used against Israel.

Iran on Monday denounced “illegitimate” new sanctions by the United States on its ballistic missile program, days after Tehran’s historic nuclear deal with world powers was confirmed.

“Iran’s missile program has never been designed to be capable of carrying nuclear weapons,” foreign ministry spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari said, according to the ISNA news agency.

He added that Tehran saw fresh economic sanctions as “illegitimate”.

“The U.S. sanctions against Iran’s ballistic missile program … have no legal or moral legitimacy,” Ansari said in a televised news conference.

“America sells tens of billions of dollars of weaponry each year to countries in the region. These weapons are used in war crimes against Palestinian, Lebanese and most recently Yemeni citizens,” he said.

The United States announced new penalties Sunday related to Iran’s ballistic missile program after the lifting of punishing measures aimed at its atomic activities as the deal with world powers was confirmed in Vienna.

“As previously announced, the Islamic republic of Iran… responds with determination to such propaganda by accelerating its legal ballistic missile program and boosting defense capabilities,” Ansari said.

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