Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said on Sunday that Western expectations for the Islamic Republic to limit its missile program were "stupid and idiotic", Reuters reports.
According to the report, the Supreme Leader also called on the country's Revolutionary Guards to mass-produce missiles.
"They expect us to limit our missile program while they constantly threaten Iran with military action. So this is a stupid, idiotic expectation," Khamenei was quoted as having said while on a visit to an aeronautics fair by the Revolutionary Guards, where he was presented with the latest Iranian “military achievements”.
"The revolutionary guards should definitely carry out their program and not be satisfied with the present level. They should mass produce. This is a main duty of all military officials," he declared, according to Reuters.
Just last month, Khamenei declared that Tehran will never give up its nuclear program.
Speaking to a gathering of nuclear scientists, Khamenei said Iran had agreed to talks with the West to "break the hostile atmosphere" with the international community and to show that it was not seeking nuclear weapons.
"These talks need to continue but all must know that despite continuation of the talks, activities of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the field of nuclear research and development won't be halted at all," he said.
Under a six-month interim deal which was reached between Iran and six world powers in November, the Islamic Republic agreed to freeze its uranium enrichment program in return for sanctions relief, including the transfer of some $4.2 billion in frozen overseas funds.
Throughout the negotiating process, Iran has insisted that it has a right to enrich uranium and has remained adamant that it will not give up that right.
Khamenei has said in the past that Iran has no intention of developing nuclear weapons but if it wanted to, the United States could not thwart it.
Similar comments have been made by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who recently claimed that there was no evidence that Iran is seeking nuclear weapons.