Iran Says Doesn't Intend To Develop Nuclear Weapons

14 February 2005 -- Iranian Foreign Minister Kamel Kharrazi said today that Iran "does not have any program to produce" nuclear weapons.
But he reiterated Iran's right to enrich uranium for producing nuclear power.

Kharrazi also said in Budapest today that Iran's "Islamic thinking" forbids "the production and use of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction." He made the comments after a meeting with Hungarian counterpart Ferenc Somogyi.

The European Union, which Hungary joined in May, is working to persuade Iran to abandon its uranium-enrichment program. The United States fears the material could be used to manufacture nuclear weapons.

Iran has said it will decide soon whether to continue its suspension of the program.

German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, who will meet Kharrazi on 16 February, said Iran would have to face sanctions at the UN Security Council if it restarts the uranium-enrichment program.

(AFP/AP)