BICOM

Iran’s former-President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has admitted that Iran’s nuclear programme has always had a military dimension, in an apparent contradiction with Tehran’s position during recent talks with the international community.

Rafsanjani, who was Iran’s president between 1989 and 1997, is considered to be a political opponent of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei. Rafsanjani told the Iran Republic News Agency that the Iranian nuclear programme dates back to the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s. He said, “When we started the [nuclear] work, we were at war [with Iraq], and we wanted to have such an option for the day our enemies wanted to use nuclear weapons.”

Rafsanjani added, “The principle of our doctrine was the use of nuclear [energy] for peaceful purposes, even though we never abandoned [the idea] that… if it became necessary, then we would have the option of going to the other side [to develop nuclear weapons].” He also admitted that there was a covert element to the nuclear programme, including the building of secret sites, building a heavy water reactor and manufacturing centrifuge parts.

Rafsanjani’s admission appears at odds with Iran’s stance during talks with the P5+1 powers (US, UK, France, Russia, China and Germany), during which Iranian negotiators insisted its nuclear programme was entirely peaceful, for exclusively civilian purposes. The two sides agreed a long-term deal in July, which will likely see Iran suspend nuclear development for the next ten years in return for loosening international sanctions. Rafsanjani’s comments will fuel Israeli concerns that Iran will simply continue its military nuclear development once the agreement expires.

Israel’s Defence Minister Moshe Ya’alon yesterday underscored these apprehensions. Speaking alongside United States’ Secretary of Defence Ash Carter during a visit to Washington, he said, “We will again be dealing with a potential military nuclear Iran. And we must be ready.” Carter said US military action under such circumstances remains a possibility, commenting, “I’m under instructions from President Obama to make sure the military option remains intact.”