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1//The Daily Star, Lebanon Wednesday, August 31, 2005
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=18098 ‘ISLAM FORBIDS MILITARY USE OF NUCLEAR POWER’
Compiled by Daily Star staff
(AFP, Reuters)
Iran's new defense minister said on Tuesday using nuclear technology for military purposes was forbidden by Islam but Tehran would continue to develop a nuclear program to meet its electricity needs. Speaking at a ceremony to mark his official introduction as minister, Brigadier General Mustafa Mohammad Najjar added Iran would continue to develop ballistic missiles as a deterrent against attack.
Accused by the U.S. of seeking atomic arms, Iran says it has no intention of using its nuclear facilities for anything other than peaceful purposes.
"As our Supreme Leader (Ayatollah Ali Khamenei) has said, the nonpeaceful use of nuclear technology is religiously forbidden," the official IRNA news agency quoted Najjar as saying.
"Since fossil fuels are going to run out we should replace them with nuclear energy," he said, adding that Iran must prove through negotiations that it is not trying to build atom bombs.
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