Western opposition to Iran’s nuclear programme is rooted in a ”colonial mentality” and the Islamic republic will not back down to mounting pressure, top cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said on Thursday.
Quoted by the official news agency IRNA, the former president said Iran had decided to resume sensitive nuclear work and ”break the colonial taboos regarding our peaceful nuclear energy [programme] since the West’s opposition to our peaceful nuclear energy is rooted in their colonial mentality.”
”They want to deprive Islamic nations of having nuclear energy knowledge and always keep them backwards,” said Rafsanjani, who served as Iran’s president from 1989 to 1997 and now heads the Expediency Council, a top political arbitration body.
Iran’s nuclear programme, he asserted, was ”the desire of our nation, we will pursue it.”
Iran broke the UN seals at its Natanz nuclear plant on Tuesday to resume research into uranium enrichment, prompting a strong reaction from world leaders who fear Tehran is trying to develop nuclear weapons.
Iran insists its programme is only for civilian purposes and only wants to enrich to make reactor fuel. But the process can be extended to military purposes.
The British, French and German foreign ministers were to discuss a response on Thursday.
The three European Union countries have been seeking a negotiated solution for over two years. But both Britain and the United States have warned that Iran was now likely to be referred to the United Nations Security Council for possible sanctions. – AFP
