It’s far from the first time he’s said so, but Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s Supreme Leader, said Thursday that Iran has no interest in nuclear weapons, and that the program is purely civilian, a pursuit of atomic energy that Iran badly needs.
Iranian leadership has been saying this for years, but factions hostile to Iran in the region, notably Israel, continue to push the myth of Iran seeking nuclear arms, and have been doing it so much that the reality of Iran’s intentions are often forgotten.
Heavy sanctions against Iran have limited their ability to maintain a large, potentially valuable oil industry. Iran’s answer to this has been to try to grow a nuclear energy program for internal use, leaving more of the produced oil for export.
Even if no one is inclined to take Iran’s word for it, the nation’s behavior strongly supports Khamenei’s comments. Throughout many years, Iran’s enrichment program has consistently centered on energy production through low-enriched fuel, and there has never even been an attempt at producing weapons-grade uranium.
Iran has consistently given the IAEA access to show that there is no active weapons program, and while this is scorned by anti-Iran hawks, the system in place, even moreso when the P5+1 nuclear deal was intact, gave the IAEA monitors absolute transparency to show that no diversion to military purpose was being done. Iran’s negotiators say restoration of the deal is close, despite hawks opposing it.
On top of everything else, Khamenei is the top religious leader in Iran, and has declared nuclear arms forbidden under Shi’ite Islam. Considering how religiously conservative Iran is, that should be seen as a strong disincentive toward a weapons program.
“Iran’s negotiators say restoration of the deal is close…” Actually what they say is, “It’s close if the US agrees.”
That’s like saying “I could buy a Mercedes – if I had the money.”
Well, they have consistently shown (and are indeed judged by US intelligence agency estimates to) not be interested in weaponizing at this point in time.
However, it is also true that nuclear fission energy makes no sense for Iran economically … they have incredible natural gas resources and, if desired, solar potential, which would both be far far less expensive than nuclear power.
The reality is that they have this program for power + the possibility to weaponize as a last resort if it becomes necessary to save the nation. It’s a fine distinction but important and wise.
They have quite high levels of cancer in Iran and they also have quite advanced medical technology. Unlike the UK, they will regularly use MRI and CTscans on patients. They therefore require Uranium for the Tehran Rearch Reactor which is devoted to making radio isotopes for medical purposes.
I totally agree with you about the potential for solar farms in Iran, plus in many other countries in that region.
Agree, Andy. Iran has consistently maintained that their use of uranium is for the medical field.
No one has the right to deprive them of that.
In fact, no one has the right to deprive them of nuclear weapons if that is what they wish, since a certain shitty little country that regularly assassinates Iranian scientists already has them…in spades.
Hmmm, no they have said medical isotopes are one of the reasons, not THE reason. The primary excuse for the reactor has always been nuclear energy. That is because the amount of isotopes needed for the reason you state is orders of magnitude less than their current production.
However, as you say, who are we to object, who ourselves have not complied with non proliferation targets? Luckily, as I said in the initial comment, Iran has not decided to weaponize thus far … but they indeed may if they are pushed and threatened much more.
Much to the contrary, despite whatever funding challenges making it “uneconomical,” nuclear power is the only source dense enough to get the world off of fossil fuels in any impactful time frame while meeting the ever-growing demand for electricity. Perhaps if a concerted global effort were made to switch to renewables decades ago, they would suffice. But we didn’t, and so here we are. Ironically, the longer the green energy movement rejects the priority that must now be given to nuclear energy, the more necessary it becomes to ever reach their carbon-negative goal.
Of course, it is not actually uneconomical. Gen IV nuclear reactors are nothing like the prohibitively expensive reactors you are talking about. They include molten salt reactors that address many safety concerns as well portable and modular units.
Well, first, that’s not the type of reactor they have built. Secondly, the expense they have gone through to built the one reactor they have makes it incredibly inefficient in comparison to natural gas reactors (Iran has the largest or second largest gas reserves in the world).
The reactor will indeed generate some electricity; however it is undeniable that this is not its primary reason to be.
I certainly trust Iranian leadership more than I do that of Amerikkka.
Ditto for Russia.
Amen to that Sister!
I’ve referenced this quote several times, and now seems like it would once again be appropriate. The sermon this is taken from I can no longer find, unfortunately. Khamenei said:
“We have no belief in the atomic bomb and we do not pursue it. Our religious principles forbid the acquisition and use such weapons of mass murder. We consider them symbols of destruction.”
That’s what makes this whole issue so frustrating. The claimed danger of an Iranian nuclear weapon is complete fiction and always has been.