Musharraf: Iran should not go nuclear

Pakistan President Gen Pervez Musharraf said today that Iran should not be allowed develop nuclear weapons, but did not say if the country should face economic sanctions.

“Their security is not threatened,” Musharraf said during a discussion at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting.

His remarks came at a session focusing on Islam.

Musharraf said his own country had nuclear weapons because it maintained a balance with neighbouring India.

“We follow a strategy of defensive deterrence. ... When a nuclear threat was posed to us (by India) we had to set the balance right again,” he said. “Every country has a right to defend its security if its security is threatened.”

As for Iran developing nuclear weapons, he said that if the country felt its security was threatened, “they would have the right to go nuclear.”

But he added: “Under the present circumstances I don’t think their security is threatened. Therefore, I believe that they need not go nuclear.”