Iran’s president insists his country will never seek nuclear weapons

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani says his country will never seek to possess nuclear weapons, according to quotes on his official website translated by Reuters.

“We have never sought nuclear weapons,” he says. “With or without the nuclear deal we will never seek nuclear weapons.”

He adds that “the European powers will be responsible for the consequences of violating the pact.”

Iran is in a row with Germany, France and Britain over their threat to turn to the UN Security Council about Tehran’s increasing violations of the 2015 nuclear deal. Iran has steadily rolled back its implementation of the deal after the US withdrew from it in 2018 and reimposed sanctions.

Israel, the US and many other nations believe Iran has been pursuing nuclear weapons since the UN’s nuclear watchdog first found Tehran in violation of the global anti-nuclear pact, the NPT, in 2003.