Iran says not seeking nuclear weapons ‘at orders of its leadership, religious authority’

Iran is not pursuing nuclear weapons at the orders of the country’s leadership and religious authority, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Wednesday, Anadolu reports. “We are not seeking to manufacture nuclear weapons and will not pursue them at the orders of our leaders and our religious authority,” Pezeshkian told the 80th session of the UN General Assembly in New York. He said Israeli and US attacks on Iran in June represented “a grave betrayal of diplomacy.” Tehran has also witnessed “the assassination of its scientists, the violation of state sovereignty, and the targeting of its leaders,” he added. The Iranian president strongly criticised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, labelling him a “criminal.” He stressed that external powers had failed […]