Iran 'against nuclear weapons'

2004-09-21 13:22

Tehran - Iran will push on with its controversial nuclear programme even if it is forced to stop international supervision, the Islamic republic's President Mohammad Khatami said on Tuesday.

"We have made our choice and it is now the turn of others to choose," Khatami told a parade marking the beginning of "Sacred Defence Week", the anniversary of the outbreak of war with Iraq in 1980.

Khatami said the international community had to "acknowledge our natural and legal right and open the path for understanding... so we can accept comprehensive international supervision and we can continue our path to acquire nuclear technology for peaceful purposes".

"Otherwise we will continue on this path even if the result is the cutting off of internation supervision," he warned.

But he repeated denials that Iran was seeking nuclear weapons.

"If we are under supervision or not, we will in no way try to acquire nuclear weapons because it is against our religion and culture. We are opposed to nuclear weapons," he said.

- AFP