Iran renews pledge against nukes after controversy!

TEHRAN: Iran reiterated on Monday that its opposition to nuclear weapons was official policy as laid down by its supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in the wake of controversial remarks by a minister.
“Iran’s position remains unchanged. Iran’s nuclear activities have always been peaceful and will remain peaceful,” foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh told a news conference.
“The supreme leader’s fatwa banning weapons of mass destruction and nuclear weapons is still valid,” he added, referring to Khamenei’s religious edict.
The renewed pledge came a week after Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi said it would not be Tehran’s fault if the country was ever “pushed” towards developing a nuclear bomb.
“Our nuclear industry is a peaceful industry. The supreme leader explicitly stated (that) in his fatwa,” Alavi said in a state television interview broadcast on February 8.
“But if a cat is caught in a corner, it may behave differently… If they are pushing Iran in that direction, then it is not Iran’s fault, but those who pushed it.”
He stressed that “under normal circumstances, Iran has no such intention or plan”. Iranian intelligence ministers can only be appointed or dismissed with the approval of the supreme leader.
Iran had claimed the existence of the fatwa for years before making the text public for the first time in 2010, at a time of crisis over Iran’s nuclear programme. — AFP