FM Reiterates Peaceful Nature of Iran’s N. Program

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif reiterated the peaceful nature of the country’s nuclear program, and said that Tehran is in serious quest for the medical applications of the technology.
Visiting the specialized nuclear department of Razavi Hospital in the Northeastern city of Mashhad, Zarif said that medical applications of the nuclear technology are among the end goals of Iran’s drive for mastering the technology.

He said he was pleased to see that the hospital has managed to establish a specialized nuclear department despite all the existing obstacles, but said the department would be incomplete as long as it is not supplied with the radioisotopes that it needs for operation, adding that one of the raison d’etre for the existence of Arak Heavy Water Reactor is supplying the radioisotopes needed by such medical centers.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran is looking to achieve the latest modern technologies to serve its people and the country is not after making atomic bombs, and this is one of issues that we have always pursued in our negotiations with world powers,” the Iranian foreign minister said.

Zarif reiterated that Razavi Hospital clearly shows that the Islamic Republic of Iran is after supplying all the needs of the Iranian people to nuclear medicine and other civilian applications of the nuclear technology.

In relevant remarks last month, Zarif said Tehran’s nuclear program has and will always remain peaceful in accordance to the Supreme Leader’s Fatwa that describes non-peaceful usage of this technology as “a grave sin”.

“It has been proved today that no weapon of mass destruction can provide security,” Zarif said in a meeting with a group of Indonesian scholars, elites, intellectuals, diplomats and university professors and students in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta at the time.

“Nuclear weapons have no place in the Islamic Republic of Iran’s defense doctrine because we believe that such arms do not bring about security,” he added.

He said that Iran has been seeking to conduct peaceful nuclear activities but the West wants to stop or restrict the Islamic Republic’s nuclear work through irrational pressure and bullying, which he said was clear violation of the international law and treaties.

The West has sought to impede Iran’s access to peaceful nuclear technology through pressure and sanctions but they have failed, he added.

On February 22, 2012, Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei said the Islamic Republic considers the pursuit and possession of nuclear weapons “a grave sin” from every logical, religious and theoretical standpoint.