Nuclear weapons, threat to security: Iran envoy to IAEA

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Tuesday, 23 October 2012 07:42

Iran’s Ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Ali Asghar Soltanieh

Tue Oct 23, 2012

Nuclear weapons neither provide security nor reinforce political power; rather, they are a threat to security and political power.”

Iran’s Ambassador to the IAEA Ali Asghar Soltanieh

Reiterating Tehran’s stance against the production and use of nuclear weapons, Iran’s Ambassador to the UN nuclear agency Ali Asghar Soltanieh says nukes are “a threat to security and political power.”

“Nuclear weapons neither provide security nor reinforce political power; rather, they are a threat to security and political power,” Soltanieh said in a meeting of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) in Vienna on Monday.

Iran's envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) further expressed regret that no progress had been made regarding nuclear disarmament years after the CTBT and the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) were approved.

The Islamic Republic is committed to a “nuclear-free Middle East,” but it will not forgo its right to peaceful atomic energy to which all countries are entitled under international law, the Iranian envoy said.

Citing a fatwa against nuclear weapons by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, Soltanieh said Iran considers the production and use of nukes a “grave sin.”

On February 22, Ayatollah Khamenei said the Islamic Republic considers the pursuit and possession of nuclear weapons “a grave sin” from every logical, religious and theoretical standpoint.

The United States, Israel and some of their allies have accused Iran of pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program.

Iran rejects the allegations, arguing that as a committed signatory to the NPT and a member of the IAEA, it is entitled to develop and acquire nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

Source: Press TV

Last Updated on Tuesday, 23 October 2012 07:53