“When we first began, we were at war and we sought to have that possibility for the day that the enemy might use a nuclear weapon”. That was the thinking.
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The Iran Republic News Agency said that NCRI reported that in the interview, Rafsanjani said that along with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, they have both been involved in following up on the project to acquire a nuclear weapon.
“Our basic doctrine was peaceful usage of the nuclear technology although we never abandoned the idea that if one day we are threatened and it is imperative, we would have the capability for going the other path [to a nuclear weapon] as well”. “We had talks with the Pakistanis, a scientist called Mr. Abd al-Qadir Khan [A.Q. Khan]”.
“I fear that’s what’s happening right now on this particular issue”, the Tennessee Republican said, noting that he was circulating a letter to the president calling for a unilateral US response to Iran’s test of a new, longer range ballistic missile that could be capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. I had gone to Pakistan twice.
The Iranian Resistance had previously announced that IRGC commanders had met Abdul Qadeer Khan at least twice. The global Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had earlier confirmed that the “vessel” was at the site. In a 2009 interview – given after he had served five years under house imprisonment – Khan said that “since Iran was an important Muslim country, we wished Iran to acquire this technology”. This was his conviction, and it was he who built the Pakistani nuclear bomb.
Iraq did, however, use chemical weapons later in the war. Rafsanjani is the head of Iran’s State Exigency Council. Such an admission, the Obama administration told Congress, “Is not necessary for purposes of verifying [the current nuclear agreement] commitments” because the United States already had sufficient information on Iran’s past activities. Gradually, we started the work and continued Bushehr, meaning we did work which was possible. According to these revelations, on 10 September 1992, during Rafsanjani’s visit to China where he had taken along a number of nuclear experts, they signed a broad secret agreement for nuclear cooperation with the Chinese that only sections of which were made public. During the entire process, Iran is obliged to mothball 13,000 or two-thirds of its uranium enriching centrifuges, sell or dilute to less than 300kgs its 7,845kgs stockpile of five per cent enriched uranium, install intrusive monitoring systems to ensure the IAEA can monitor all nuclear-connected facilities, remove the core of the Arak heavy water reactor and fill it with concrete so no weapons-grade plutonium can be produced, end enrichment at the Fordow plan and turn it into a research facility. But we did not have a plan to do this, and we never deviated [from civilian use].
Dr Rice said she would never recommend pulling out of the deal but hoped that the USA, alog with European allies, would put a system in place to impose sanctions against Iran again it their behaviour was deemed “unacceptable”.
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Rafsanjani was parliament speaker during the war and became president shortly after.
