The Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution His Eminence Imam Sayyed Ali Khamenei confirmed that Iran is not seeking nuclear weapons.
He further stressed that "no power could stop Tehran's access to an atomic bomb if it intended to build it."
In a message to the international nuclear disarmament conference held in Tehran, Imam Khamenei reiterated that "Iran backs the elimination of nuclear weapons."
"Although several countries have produced and stockpiled nuclear weapons that could lead to commission of a major nuclear crime and have seriously threatened world peace, only one government has committed the ultimate nuclear offence, the United States of America," Ayatollah Khamenei said.
He further mentioned: "If the US campaign against nuclear weapons were not fictitious, could the Zionist regime refrain from accepting the rules of international law, especially the non-proliferation regime, and turn the occupied land of Palestine into an arsenal with huge stockpiles of nuclear weapons?
The full text of his message is as follows:
"In the name of God the most merciful, the most gracious"
I wish to welcome the honorable guests that have gathered here for this conference. It is a source of pleasure for the Islamic Republic of Iran to be the host for this international disarmament conference. I hope this occasion will be an opportunity to yield enduring and important results from your dialogues and discussions for the whole humanity.
Atomic and nuclear sciences are among the greatest achievement of humankind and must be at the service of welfare and advancement of all human societies. The application fields of nuclear science cover a wide spectrum of medical, energy and industrial uses, each being of essential importance. For this reason, we can rightly say that nuclear technology occupies a prominent position in our economic life and its importance will only rise as we move forward. As the needs of industry, the health and energy sectors grow, so do the efforts to make more use of nuclear energy. The nations of the Middle East, like other nations of the world, are thirsting for peace, security and progress. They have the right to ensure the economic position and prosperity of the future generations. Most likely, one of the reasons behind efforts to cast clouds of doubt on the peaceful nuclear activities of the Islamic Republic of Iran is to hold back the nations of the region from paying serious attention to this natural and important right of theirs.
The deceptive ploy by the sole nuclear offender that falsely claims to be advocating non-proliferation of nuclear arms, while doing nothing substantive for this cause, will never succeed. If the campaign by the United States were not fictitious, could the Zionist regime refrain from accepting the rules of international law, especially the non-proliferation regime, and turn the occupied land of Palestine into an arsenal with huge stockpiles of nuclear weapons?
The word "atom" implies as much the advancement of human knowledge, as it does remind us of the most appalling event in history, the most dreadful genocide, and the gravest exploitation of scientific achievements of humankind. Although several countries have produced and stockpiled nuclear weapons that could lead to commission of a major nuclear crime and have seriously threatened world peace, only one government has committed the ultimate nuclear offence, the United States of America. The innocent people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were attacked by atomic bombs in an unequal and cruel war.
From the time of the first explosion of an atomic weapon by the government of the United States in Hiroshima and Nagasaki that caused human catastrophe with colossal proportions, the security of the entire humankind has been threatened and there has been a global consensus on the need for complete elimination of these weapons. The use of nuclear weapon not only caused massive loss of lives and destruction, but was also totally indiscriminate toward military and civilian population, young and old, women and men. Its ruthless consequences crossed political and geographical boundary lines and even wreaked irreparable losses on the next generations. As a consequence of these devastating effects, any use of or even threat to use nuclear weapons is a serious and material violation of indisputable rules of humanitarian law and a cogent example of a war crime. After a few countries acquired these weapons, it has been proven beyond any doubt that there is no winner in a nuclear war and entering such a war is irrational and inhuman. Nevertheless, despite these simple moral, rational, humane and even military facts and justifications and emphatic and repeated desire of the international community for the total elimination of these weapons, a small number of governments that have built their illusion of security on the insecurity of others continue to ignore this global call.
The insistence of these governments on holding on and increasing the destructive powers of these weapons will have no use but to serve as a tool for collective intimidation and terror and to create a false sense of security based on deterrence resulting from assured destruction and perpetuation of the global nuclear nightmare. Colossal amounts of resources have been spent in this irrational arms race, so each superpower could have this illusion and power to imagine that it is able to destroy its rivals and other inhabitants of the planet Earth, even their own population, many times over. It is for good reason that the deterrent strategy based on "mutually assured destruction" is referred to as MAD.
Over the recent years some government have gone beyond the "mutually assured destruction" deterrence doctrine in facing other nuclear powers. They have gone so far that their nuclear strategy emphasizes on maintaining nuclear choice in countering conventional threats by violators of NPT, while the greatest violators of NPT are those powers that, in addition to violating their commitments under article 6 of NPT on nuclear disarmament have even taken over others in the race for vertical and horizontal proliferation. They have played a direct role in proliferating these weapons by helping to arm the Zionist regime with nuclear weapons and supporting the policies of this regime. This is contrary to their undertaking under article 1 of NPT, and poses a serious threat to the Middle East region and beyond. The bullying and aggressor regime of the United States is leading these efforts.
It behooves this international conference on disarmament to review and examine the perils resulting from production and stockpiling of nuclear weapons in the world, and to present sensible and practical ways and solutions to counter this threat against humanity so, serious steps could be taken toward protecting world peace and security.
We believe that other weapons of mass destruction, in addition to nuclear weapons, such as chemical and biological weapons, also pose a serious threat to humanity. The people of Iran were themselves victims of the use of chemical weapons and are better aware of the dangers of production and stockpiling of these weapons. We are prepared to make resources available to us to counter this threat.
We regard the use of these weapons to be illegal and haram, and it is incumbent on all to protect humankind from this grave disaster.
Source: ISNA, Edited by moqawama.org
