Shiitenews.com

P5+1 should consider Leader’s fatwa against nuclear bombs: Top cleric

A senior Iranian cleric urges the world powers to take into account the fatwa (religious decree) issued by the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei against building nuclear weapons during talks with Iran.

“The Islamic Republic is not seeking [to build] nuclear weapons,” Tehran's interim Friday Prayers leader Ayatollah Mohammad Emami-Kashani said addressing member states of P5+1 - Britain, China, France, Russia, and the United States plus Germany.

He added that the Western countries’ charges about Iran seeking to build nuclear weapons simply “do not apply.”

“The Islamic Republic is a faithful and honest establishment and the Leader of the Islamic Revolution has announced that we consider [building] atomic weapons to be haram (forbidden by Islam).”

On February 22, Ayatollah Khamenei said the Islamic Republic considers the pursuit and possession of nuclear weapons “a grave sin” from every logical, religious and theoretical standpoint.

The Leader described the proliferation of nuclear weapons as “senseless, destructive and dangerous,” adding that the Iranian nation has never sought and will never seek atomic bombs as the country already has the conventional capacity to challenge the nuclear-backed powers.

Ayatollah Emami-Kashani urged the P5+1 to reciprocate Iran's sincerity by avoiding stubbornness and being honest in the forthcoming negotiations with Iran in Baghdad.

Iran and the P5+1 group wrapped up their latest round of negotiations in Istanbul, Turkey, on April 14, 2012, and agreed to hold the next round of talks in Baghdad on May 23.

Both sides hailed the talks as constructive.