TEHRAN, June 8: The use of nuclear, chemical or biological arms is “haram,” or strictly forbidden by Islam, Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi said on Sunday in Iran’s strongest rejection yet of allegations that it is seeking to develop atomic weapons.

But Kharazi said exerting pressure on the Islamic republic over its nuclear energy programme — being developed with Russian assistance — was counter-productive.

And the minister renewed Iranian accusations that fellow signatories of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) had failed to fulfil their side of the deal.

“We consider using biological, chemical and nuclear weapons as an act of haram,” Kharazi told MPs in a parliamentary question session focused on international tensions surrounding Iran’s atomic programme.

“We have no nuclear weapons programme and we have said this frankly and clearly so many times. We have a security doctrine that is without nuclear weapons,” the minister said.

“We only use nuclear facilities for peaceful purposes,” he added, insisting that the work of Iranian scientists was a matter of national pride.

The comments came a day after inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) arrived in Iran on a prearranged visit amid charges from the body that Tehran had failed to fully honour the nuclear safeguard agreement.

According to an IAEA report filed to member states ahead of a Vienna meeting on June 16 with IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei, Iran was found to have violated the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) but was taking steps to correct the problem.

The United States, which has accused Iran of using civil atomic energy programmes as a cover to develop nuclear weapons, said the findings by the IAEA were “deeply troubling” and a cause for world alarm.

Washington has also been pressuring Russia to end its cooperation in a multi-billion-dollar nuclear power plant project in Bushehr, southern Iran, as well as to slap stricter sanctions on Iranian companies.

Iran has also come under mounting pressure to sign an additional protocol to the NPT that would allow IAEA inspectors to carry out surprise inspections of even undeclared sites.

The agency has been carrying out inspections in Iran since February, when ElBaradei inspected nuclear sites.

But Kharazi said such pressure was counter-productive and added critical governments should instead respect the NPT by aiding Iran in acquiring peaceful nuclear technology.

“They cannot deal like this with Iran,” he told deputies. “They cannot put us under pressure and say accept this protocol, or put us under pressure not to use atomic technology for peaceful purposes.”

“They should deal with Iran like this: we are inviting all industrial countries such as European ones, the United States, the Far East and Southeast Asia to come to Iran and participate with Iran in building atomic facilities,” he said.—AFP