Special to WorldTribune.com

Iran has continued to develop advanced missiles that could deliver nuclear payloads while simultaneously conducting talks with Western powers on a nuclear deal, a Pentagon report revealed.

“There are reports that show Iran is continuing to increase its nuclear arsenal while continuing to negotiate,” the report said. A June 30 deadline has been set to finalize a deal.

The Pentagon dispatch came amid a recent report from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that said Iran increased its stockpile of nuclear fuel as the talks on the nuclear Joint Plan of Action (JPOA) were progressing.

“Although Iran has paused progress in some areas of its nuclear program and fulfilled its obligations under the Joint Plan of Action (JPOA), it continues to develop technological capabilities that also could be applicable to nuclear weapons, including ballistic missile development,” a one-page unclassified summary of the report says.

The State Department downplayed the IAEA’s report, which contradicted President Barack Obama’s claim that the nuclear agreement had halted Iran’s nuclear program.

State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said that the increase in nuclear production cited by the IAEA was expected and that the amount has increased and decreased.

The Pentagon report also pointed to Iran’s continuing threat in the Strait of Hormuz and Yemen’s Bab-el-Mandeb strait.

“Iran continues to develop its capabilities to control the Strait of Hormuz and avenues of approach in the event of a military conflict,” the report said, adding that Teheran is “quietly fielding increasingly lethal weapon systems, including more advanced naval mines, small but capable submarines, armed unmanned aerial vehicles, coastal defense cruise missile batteries, attack craft, and ant ship-capable missiles.”

Iran’s power grab also stretches to the Red Sea strait of Bab-el-Mandeb as U.S. officials said Iran’s support of Houthi rebels in Yemen is aimed at gaining access to the strategic strait which could be used by to disrupt oil and other shipping.

According to the Pentagon report, Teheran’s support for terrorism also has not stopped.

“The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force (IRGC-QF) remains a key tool of Iran’s foreign policy and power projection, particularly in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Bahrain, and Yemen.”

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