Iran’s ambassador to the UK insisted his country had no intention of building a nuclear weapon as he clashed with MPs on Tuesday.
Seyed Ali Mousavi told the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee that Iran’s nuclear programme was “only peaceful”, insisting: “There is no desire, not any intention, to produce a nuclear bomb.”
His comments come less than a week after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) censured Iran for failing to comply with nonproliferation obligations intended to stop it developing a nuclear weapon.
Tehran is reported to have enriched uranium up to 60%, requiring only a short technical step to reach the weapons-grade level of 90%.
Earlier, Donald Trump had declared on his Truth Social platform that Iran “can not have a nuclear weapon” and urged people to “immediately evacuate Tehran”.
But Sir Keir Starmer has played down the possibility of a US strike on Iran, saying a statement by leaders of the G7, including Mr Trump, was “about de-escalation”.
During Tuesday’s hearing, Mr Mousavi condemned Israeli air strikes on Iran, accusing Tel Aviv of “terrorist and criminal aggression” and deliberately targeting civilians.
But he also clashed with MPs on the committee over Iran’s support for Russia’s war in Ukraine and plots to assassinate people in the UK.
In a heated exchange with Labour MP Blair McDougall, Mr Mousavi complained about the use of the word “regime” to describe the government in Tehran, insisting it was “a very lawful and legally responsible state”.
Referring to Russia’s use of Iranian-supplied drones to strike civilian targets in Ukraine, Mr McDougall asked: “What’s the legal basis for (Vladimir) Putin’s war in Ukraine, if you’re a fan of international law?”
But Mr Mousavi insisted Iran had “declared to the Russian side not to use our cooperation against a third party”, adding the committee would have to “ask this question to the Russian Federation”.
He also asked for “evidence” of plots to attack Iranian journalists in the UK, offering to provide members of Iran’s security services to “remove these kinds of misunderstandings”.
