Defense minister: Possession of nuclear arms detrimental to Iran`s national interest
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
Tehran, Feb 7, IRNA -- Possession of nuclear arms is harmful to Iran and will never serve national interest, Minister of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics Rear Admiral Ali Shamkhani said on Monday. Speaking in an interview with Persian daily, Sharq, Shamkhani said that it is not in line with the national interests to acquire nuclear arms under the current power balance of the international community. Iran is a great nation and is exposed to a variety of threats and at the same time, possession of nuclear arms poses a threat to national security. "Since the first day I took the office, I have said that we do not need nuclear arms. The problem is that we enjoy advanced technological know-how and the enemies develop a perception that we are after nuclear arms, whereas, we follow the strategy of not having such a dangerous weapon," Shamkhani said. "We have signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the additional protocol to NPT and respect the safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). All our nuclear sites are open to the IAEA inspectors and strategically we renounce nuclear arms. We want the Middle East to be free from nuclear arms." "The United States has violated the international law by providing Israel with nuclear arms. We seek disarmament and the Israeli nuclear arms pose threat to Iran. Our concern about Israeli nuclear arms equipment has been put on the agenda of our negotiations with the European partners (France, Britain and Germany)," Shamkhani said. Asked about Iranian strategy to remove the threat of Israeli nuclear arms, he said that Iran is steady in lobbying in the international community for disarmament and freeing the Middle East from weapons of mass destruction. 1416/1412
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