Khamenei, lashing out at UN and Zionists, denies Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons

Iran has never sought nuclear weapons but will continue to develop its peaceful nuclear energy program, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Thursday.

Speaking at the summit of the 120-member Non-Aligned Movement, which is being hosted in Tehran, Khameini said that Iran’s “motto is nuclear energy for all and nuclear weapons for none.”

Iran says the gathering in Tehran shows that Western sanctions have not resulted in Iran’s diplomat isolation.

The West suspects Iran is developing a nuclear weapons program, a charge Tehran denies.

Khamenei, who has final say on all state matters in Iran, said the country considers the use of nuclear weapons to be “a big and unforgivable sin.”

He also accused Israel of being made up of “bloodthirsty wolves,” a day after UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon asked the cleric to tone down his rhetoric against Israel.

With Ban in attendance at the summit, Khamenei blasted the UN Security Council, calling it an illogical, unjust and defunct relic of the past used by the United States and Zionists “to impose its bullying manner on the world.”

Khamenei accused the United States of talking about human rights “when what they mean is Western interests. They talk of democracy when what they have is military intervention in other countries.”