The Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said on Sunday: “We don’t want to go toward nuclear weapons because of our Islamic principles, and if it were not for this, they (the West) could not have stopped us, just as they couldn’t stop our nuclear progress so far.”
According to the Diplomacy, Law, Police forum, Islam demarcates specific limits with reference to the use of force during times of war. Although the concept of nuclear weapons did not exist during the revelation of Islam, several Quranic verses do indicate a clear prohibition when it comes to indiscriminate killings of innocent lives (The Islamic Laws of War and Nuclear Weapons, Jan.2023).
But, of course, the Islamic Republic has collaborated since its inception with countless regimes and groups that practices mass murder of civilians, so maybe the Ayatollah should consider taking a refresher course?
Khamenei spoke during a meeting with a group of nuclear experts and officials in Tehran. He said Iran’s enemies have created a nuclear challenge for the Islamic Republic for 20 years because they know that progress in the nuclear industry is the key to Iran’s scientific progress.
He argued that the nuclear industry is important to support the progress and capabilities of the country in technical, economic, health, and other fields, to make life better for the people. The nuclear industry “is important for this reason as well as in terms of the global and international political weight of the country,” he said.
Khamenei said that parties opposing Iran’s nuclear activities are untruthful when it comes to abiding by their promises. He said governments negotiating with Iran or the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have made promises over the years, but they have failed to abide by them. “We found out over the past 20 years who was trustworthy and who was not,” the Supreme Leader said.
Khamenei said that Iran is now producing 1,000 megawatts of nuclear power, adding that the country should seek to reach a target of 20,000 MW in electricity generation through nuclear technology. He also called on the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) to work on low-capacity nuclear power plants, which have proven successful in other countries.
Last week, the director general of the Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, said that for the first time, his agency installed devices to monitor enrichment at the facilities in Frodo and Natanz. Grossi explained that the installation of the devices will help quickly detect changes in the enrichment levels that these facilities. However, he admitted that “this is only part of what we want to happen. What needs to happen now is a process that will lead to the realization of all the commitments contained in the joint statement between Iran and the agency without further delay.”
