Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Tuesday that Iran's ballistic missiles were "never on the table" during US-Iran talks, despite the US and Israel citing it as one of the primary reasons for going to war with the Islamic Republic.
"This MOU does not mention ballistic missiles. It was never on the table, it was never on the agenda and the Iranian side never even wanted to discuss it. This is not an impression, but a fact of [the] matter," Sharif said, referring to the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).
Speaking during Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian's visit to Islamabad, Sharif said that there should be no double standards.
"So I want to make it abundantly clear that, of course, there cannot be double standards; that some countries can have ballistic missiles and Iran shouldn't have [them]. You cannot digest this kind of duplicity."
Pezeshkian went further, stating that not only was Iran's missile programme not part of negotiations, it would never be part of any agreement, saying Iran would "never compromise on our missile programme and capabilities and this shall never be part of any agreement between Iran and any other party".
