Iran has ability to make atomic bomb, but does not intend to do so: Nuclear chief

Tehran, IRNA – Iran’s nuclear chief said on Monday that the country has the technical ability to build an atomic bomb, but has no such an intention on agenda. In an interview with Iran’s Fars News, Mohammad Eslami, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), said that Iran has a constructive interaction with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and this hasn’t been disturbed, since all Iran’s nuclear capacities are based on the NPT and safeguards agreements. The philosophy behind the 2015 nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or simply the JCPOA, was for Iran to answer all the vain questions put before the country, Eslami said, adding that's why the JCPOA was agreed upon in a way that it limited Iran's nuclear capacity and required Iran to accept intense monitoring on its nuclear activity to remove the questions. All PMD-related false accusations made against Iran were retreated when the JCPOA was signed, the official further said, adding that but the Western side raises the same false accusations once again to rejoin the deal after they left it. He said that the accusations are originated from the Mujahideen-e Khalq and the Zionist regime, as they have been repeating the allegations for almost 20 years. This is not acceptable for Iran to be pressured through such vain allegations, he said, adding that Iran, therefore, has decided to turn off all the cameras installed by the JCPOA so that the other side understands that they shouldn't raise again the same accusations that have been closed for years. He went on to say that if the other side is determined to rejoin the JCPOA, they should not raise vain allegations regarding a case that has been closed, and if they don’t want to rejoin the JCPOA, they'd better not waste both sides’ time. He confirmed comments made by Head of Iran's Strategic Council on Foreign Relations Kamal Kharrazi who said Iran has the technical capability to build atomic bomb, but such a measure is not on its agenda. Eslami said that the Zionist regime that is raising the allegations backed by the opponents of the Islamic Revolution may make some troubles for Iran, but they would achieve nothing. Follow us on Twitter @IrnaEnglish