Iran Enriching Uranium But Retains Fatwa Nuclear Weapons Banned
JAKARTA - Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Tehran was insisting on uranium enrichment, but on the other hand also maintained the religious decree of the country's supreme leader that declared nuclear weapons prohibited.
"With this fatwa, the system cannot produce a bomb," Foreign Minister Fidan, who once sat on the Board of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said in an interview with CNN Turkey, quoted by Anadolu (10/2).
"But they are developing capabilities that are close to weapons, which results in sanctions and treatment as if they have produced a bomb," he said.
Furthermore, Foreign Minister Fidan emphasized that Iran has not taken steps to arm enriched uranium and does not have nuclear weapons.
"Iran does not have an atomic bomb. There is also no data showing that they want to build it," he said, noting that although there are assumptions about how quickly Iran could do so if it chose to, the assumptions remain theoretical and continue to be revised.
Foreign Minister Fidan underlined that enrichment alone is not enough.
"On the one hand, you need to enrich uranium. On the other hand, you need to develop warheads, and then you need to combine them," he said.
"Now, Iran has not taken a single step in this regard, towards armament," he added.
Foreign Minister Fidan said there were still questions about Iran's reasons for continuing high-level enrichment, although he said it had no intention of building a nuclear weapon.
"If there is no such intention, some people think there is no need for enrichment on this scale or such severe sanctions," he said.
Asked about Turkey's position on Iran's potential acquisition of nuclear weapons, Foreign Minister Fidan said Ankara did not want to see a dramatic change in the regional balance of power.
"Such developments would be very damaging to the spirit of cooperation in the region," he explained, warning that it could trigger a wider nuclear arms race and ultimately force Turkey and other countries to retaliate in the same way.
"I think this will not benefit this area," he added.