Tehran, Feb 9: Iran’s intelligence minister warned the West that his country could push for a nuclear weapon if crippling international sanctions on Tehran remain in place, state television reported on Tuesday.
The remarks by Mahmoud Alavi mark a rare occasion that a government official says Iran could reverse its course on the nuclear programme.
Tehran has long insisted that the programme is for peaceful purposes only, such as power generation and medical research.
A 1990s fatwa, or religious edict, by the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei states that nuclear weapons are forbidden. “Our nuclear programme is peaceful and the fatwa by the supreme leader has forbidden nuclear weapons, but if they push Iran in that direction, then it wouldn’t be Iran’s fault but those who pushed it,” Alavi was quoted as saying. “If a cat is cornered, it may show a kind of behaviour that a free cat would not,” he said and added that Iran has no plans to move toward a nuclear weapon under current circumstances. Israel insists Iran maintains the ambition of developing nuclear weapons, pointing to Tehran’s ballistic missile program and research into other technologies.
Khamenei, who has the final say on all matters of state in Iran, urged the United States to lift all sanctions if it wants Iran to live up to commitments under its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. (AP)
