TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Iran will not hesitate to defend its nuclear programme, foreign ministry says
"Iran's peaceful nuclear programme is ongoing, and has been for the last three decades, based on Iran's rights as a member in the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons... definitely we will not show any weakness in this regard," he said.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
This file handout satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies on January 28, 2020, shows an overview of Iran's Natanz nuclear facility, south of the capital Tehran. Iran announced Saturday it has started up advanced centrifuges that enrich uranium more quickly in a new breach of its undertakings under a troubled 2015 nuclear agreement.Satellite image ©2021 Maxar Technologies / AFP (AFP/Maxar Technologies )
I
ran has defended its nuclear programme and will not be hesitant to continue doing so, Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday, a day after Israel and the US vowed to counter Iran's nuclear ambitions.
"Iran's peaceful nuclear programme is ongoing, and has been for the last three decades, based on Iran's rights as a member in the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons... definitely we will not show any weakness in this regard," he said.
Israel and the United States are determined to thwart Iran's nuclear ambitions and its influence in the Middle East, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday after meeting US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Jerusalem.
Rubio said: "Behind every terrorist group, behind every act of violence, behind every destabilising activity, behind everything that threatens peace and stability for the millions of people that call this region home, is Iran."
Last week, US intelligence warns that Israel is likely to launch a preemptive attack onIran's nuclear program by midyear, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday, citing multiple intelligence reports.
Such an attack would set back Iran's nuclear program by weeks or months while escalating tension in the region and risking a wider conflict, according to multiple intelligence reports from the end of the Biden administration and start of the Trump administration, the newspaper reported.
Reuters could not immediately confirm the report. The White House declined to comment. The Post said the Israeli government, CIA, Defense Intelligence Agency and Office of the Director of National Intelligence declined to comment.
Baghaei on Monday condemned Netanyahu's call to "finish the job" against the Islamic republic as a breach to the UN Charter.
"Threatening others is both a gross violation of international law and the United Nations Charter," Baghaei told reporters, adding Israel "can't do a thing" against Iran.
