Iran ‘not seeking’ atomic weapons

IRAN’S supreme leader and armed forces commander-in-chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said yesterday the country does not believe in and is not seeking atomic weapons, state television reported.

Khamenei was commenting a day after a leaked report by the United Nations atomic watchdog expressed concern that Tehran might have been trying to develop a nuclear warhead.

“Recently some Western and US officials have been repeating some outdated and nonsensical comments that Iran is seeking to build nuclear weapons,” Khamenei told commanders at the launch of Iran’s first domestically made naval destroyer in the Gulf.