Iran Minister: Iran's 'Ethics' Don't Allow Atomic Bombs

Bloomberg -- Iran won't develop nuclear weapons because of its "ethics," Science and Technology Minister Nasrin Soltankhah said.

"We are clarifying now as we will clarify in the future that Iran's nuclear program is exclusively for peaceful purposes," Soltankhah said today at a press briefing in Vienna. "Our ethics prohibit us from pursuing any other directions."

The International Atomic Energy Agency has said it can't be certain the program is peaceful, citing inspectors' concerns about administrative connections between civilian and military nuclear researchers and scientists. Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei calls nuclear weapons anti-Islamic and has forbidden their development.

Iran, which has been subjected to four rounds of United Nations Security Council sanctions over its nuclear work, isn't providing the "necessary level of cooperation" to resolve questions about its work, the IAEA said in a Sept. 2 report.

The UN agency is weighing whether to release more information detailing inspectors' concerns about Iran's nuclear work, Director General Yukiya Amano said yesterday at a press conference. The IAEA has been investigating Iran since 2003.

"We are transparent in this regard," Soltankhah said. "We have answered and will continue to answer questions from the IAEA."

--Editors: Jennifer M. Freedman, Jeffrey Donovan