Claims of Iran-North Korea missile cooperation are speculation: Iranian defense minister

TEHRAN,Dec.25(MNA)– Claims of missile cooperation between Iran and North Korea are just “speculation”, Iranian Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi said in Tehran on Monday. “The claims recently made by certain countries in regard to missile cooperation between Iran and North Korea are only speculation,” Vahidi told reporters. He also stated that Iran has not sent military experts to North Korea for cooperation in missile development. Earlier this month, Japan’s Kyodo news agency quoted a western diplomatic source as saying that Iran had stationed defense staff in North Korea since October to strengthen cooperation in missile and nuclear development. In addition, the New York Times quoted South Korean officials as claiming on Sunday that technicians scrutinizing the debris of the North Korean rocket launched this month had found evidence suggesting the rocket’s military purposes and the North’s technological ties with Iran in its efforts to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile. North Korea launched the Unha-3 rocket on December 12 to put an earth-observation satellite in orbit.