Iran Blasts French Threats Against Terror

United Press International:

Iran blasted Saturday threats by French President Jacques Chirac on using unconventional weapons to strike against terrorism. Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said these threats were "unacceptable," adding that Chirac had "revealed the veiled intentions of the nuclear powers to use (these weapons) as tools in political games."

The French president said Thursday during a visit to a nuclear base that nuclear weapons may be used against countries that support terrorism. READ MORE

Asefi said he regretted "this vision in confronting the security threats that are common to all in the world."

He added that the "bitter memory of using nuclear weapons in World War II was a disaster to the point that repeating it is completely unacceptable and cannot be justified."

The Iranian official insisted that Chirac's threats only adds to the fears of the world public towards the countries that possess nuclear weapons, saying these countries were responsible in giving safety assurances to the people of the world.

"Human logic, religious ethics and human morals reject the manufacture and use of weapons of mass destruction in the world, regardless of the conditions and justifications," Asefi stressed.

He urged the French president to press the leaders of the other Western nations to fight terrorism by "uprooting poverty, racism and injustice in the world and to remove any pretext to use these methods to fight this ugly trend."

Iran has been at odds with the West over its nuclear program, which it insists is only for peaceful energy purposes and not for manufacturing weapons.