MP: Nuclear weapons not in Iran's defense doctrine
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
Ankara, April 3, IRNA
MP-Defense-Nuclear
Spokesman of IRI Parliament's Foreign Policy and National Security Commission Kazem Jalali said here on Monday that Iran is not after acquiring nuclear weapons since they have no place in country's defense doctrine.
Speaking to Turkey's Channel 7 TV, Jalali added, "More important than any existing law for us Iranians there are the decrees issued by our grand sources of jurisprudence, who have made it religiously forbidden to manufacture, stockpile, or use the atomic bombs." Jalali referred to Iran's trust-building efforts throughout the past three years, arguing, "We had voluntarily suspended all our enrichment and research activities while we were engaged in negotiations with the Europeans."
He said, "IAEA's 1,300-page report on Iran is inclusive of our country's entire nuclear activities, including our voluntary implementation of the NPT additional protocol. That report is the result of more that 1,500 IAEA inspectors' thousands of hours of field studies, which is only a fraction of our trust building measures."
The Majlis Defense Commission spokesman added, "While we were busy adopting such tough trust building measures and all our enrichment activities were suspended the United States was incessantly asking for sending Iran's dossier to the UN Security Council." Stressing that Iran is a member of the NPT, Jalali said, "Iran has always met all its commitments regarding that treaty and now wishes to benefit from the rights granted to the members of that international pact."
He said, "The self-contradictory and double-standard policies pursued by the United States are quite obvious. Washington deals quite leniently with those countries that have not signed the NPT, and even cooperates with them in their nuclear programs, and is yet seriously after depriving Iran of its right, despite the fact that we are an NPT member."
Pointing out the Zionist lobby and US administration's significant role in highlighting Iran's nuclear issues at the international scene the way it is today, he said, "Neither the US threats against Iran nor the sanctions' issue are none serious." In response to a question on US scenarios for launching a military attack against Iran, and how probable he thought they were, he said, There are many probabilities in today's world, but the point should not be ignored that Iran differs a lot from Afghanistan and Iraq." Jalali added, "The previous regimes in Iraq and Afghanistan were both undemocratic, and above that, puppet regimes of Washington itself."
He referred to the nationwide support for the country's nuclear program, adding, "Even the Iranians abroad ask Tehran not to yield to US pressure regarding this issue."
Focussing on Iran-Turkey relations and the influence of Iran's nuclear program on them, he said, "Iran and Turkey are the largest and most ancient countries in the region and can play joint, or independent roles in securing regional peace and stability." Asked if Iran expects Turkey to play a mediator's role, or not, Jalali said, "We do not define any duties for Turkey, but if Turkey would offer any proposal, we would seriously study it."
Announcing that Washington and Tel Aviv try to introduce Iran as a threat for the region, he said, "Iran has provided regional countries ith full details of its nuclear activities and we hope they would not be influenced by the US-Israeli propagation."
In response to a question on direct Iran-US talks he said, "Iran has no direct contacts with the United States currently."
Jalali further elaborated, "Holding direct talks with the US is not a taboo for Iran and we have in the past talked to them on important cases, such as the Afghanistan issue, and within the next couple of days Iranian and US officials would hold direct talks on Iraq's security."
Jalali emphasized "Neither the Iranian nation, nor the IRI government trust the United States due to that country's policies, particularly those adopted regarding our peaceful nuclear
activities."
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