UNITED NATIONS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th January, 2020) Iran is not interested in having nuclear weapons, Iranian Ambassador to the United Nations Majid Takht Ravanchi said, adding that they are prohibited by Supreme Leader Ali Khomenei and absent from the country's defensive doctrine.
On Sunday, Iran announced the abandonment of its final limitations on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and said that it had no more restrictions regarding its nuclear program development.
"No, We are not, we are not interested in having a nuclear weapon, because we have a very clear, clear-cut religious edict by our supreme leader prohibiting nuclear weapons. At the same time, there is no place for nuclear weapons in Iran's defensive doctrine. Therefore, we do not want to have nuclear weapons," Ravanchi said on Monday, in response to a question regarding the nuclear program in Iran from the PBS Newshour anchor, Judy Woodruff.
The JCPOA, commonly known as the Iranian nuclear deal, was signed in 2015 between Iran and the so-called P5+1 countries, namely Russia, China, France, the United Kingdom, the United States plus Germany. The deal requires the Iranian authorities to scale back the country's nuclear program and uranium reserves, in return for sanctions relief. Moreover, The European Union is also a signatory to the agreement.
In May 2018, the US unilaterally withdrew from the agreement and imposed sanctions on Iran. A year later, Tehran began gradually abandoning its commitments under the deal.
Recent Tehran's decision to scrap remaining limitations under JCPA was provoked by the US drone attack in Baghdad on Friday that killed top Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani, who led the Revolutionary Guards' elite Quds Force.
