Iran denies DPRK missile cooperation

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast denied on Tuesday the claims about missile cooperation between the Islamic republic and the Democratic People 's Republic of Korea (DPRK). After the Islamic revolution in 1979, Iran and DPRK expanded their relations in a number of areas, including the military cooperation during the war between Iran and Iraq from 1980-1988, and after that the ties of the two sides continued in political, economic and humanitarian sectors, said the Iranian spokesman in his weekly press briefing. The claims which alleged that Iran and DPRK were cooperating in missile and nuclear programs were "baseless" and were aimed to influence Iran's relations with the regional states, he said, emphasizing that "this issue is never true." Recently Western media reported that Iranian military officers were to attend DPRK's test launch of a long-range ballistic missile expected for December 2012 underlining Tehran's intention for further missile development in close cooperation with Pyongyang.