A senior Iranian official has played down the warmongering rhetoric and threats by US authorities against the Islamic Republic, emphasizing that the Islamic Republic does not wait for permission from any foreign state to defend itself.

In a Thursday presser, Ali Akbar Velayati, the senior adviser to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei on international affairs, praised Iran as the “foremost regional power,” which enjoys extensive political and economic capacities.

“Iran does not seek permission from any country to defend itself,” and will remain indifferent to Washington’s threats, added the Iranian official.

Reacting to the recent provocative comments by American officials on Tehran’s latest missile tests, Velayati said “the missiles, which were put to test were defensive,” adding that the Islamic Republic will continue its missile work with full strength.

In recent days, new officials in the White House have been raising Cain about Iran’s domestic defense program by making provocative statements on Tehran’s latest missile test.

Iranian officials have slammed such statements as foreign meddling in the country's domestic defense agenda, saying that such missile tests were the nation’s inalienable right to self-defense.

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Velayati further said “the new US administration will also understand that threatening Iran would not be effective, and that it should end its groundless ranting.”

Touching on a myriad of controversial measures taken by the administration of US President Donald Trump since he took office last month, the Iranian official said such moves “would be to the detriment” of the American nation.

“We witness that the American people are also not satisfied with Trump’s extremism,” he added.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Velayati referred to the latest round of the Syria peace talks held in Kazakhstan's capital city of Astana and emphasized that the event showed that Iran, Russia, and Turkey could resolve their problems without the presence of the US and western countries.

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