Tuesday, May 31, 2005

Iran Demands Pakistan Head Explain Nuke Remarks

Iran Demands Pakistan Head Explain Nuke Remarks

Iran demanded an explanation Sunday from Pakistan over a purported comment by President Pervez Musharraf that Tehran was ``very anxious'' to develop nuclear weapons. In an interview with Germany's Der Spiegel news weekly published Saturday, Musharraf was asked how Iran could be dissuaded from trying to make a nuclear weapon. ``I don't know. They are very anxious to have the bomb,'' he was quoted as responding. Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters Sunday it was unlikely Musharraf made the comment, but called for an explanation from Islamabad. ``Mr. Musharraf knows better than anybody else that the Islamic Republic of Iran is not after nuclear weapons,'' he said. Asefi insisted that Iran was not seeking atomic weapons and said it was not Pakistan's business to make such comments. Musharraf's reported comments are of particular interest because of involvement by the father of Pakistan's atomic bomb, Abdul Qadeer Khan, in providing Iran with centrifuges, a device used to enrich uranhium. The German news weekly also quoted Musharraf as saying a pre-emptive attack by the United States against Iran would be ``a disaster.''

Swedish Help for Iranian Bio-Weapons?

There’s concern that Swedish scientific institutions have been helping Iran develop biological weapons. Swedish Radio News reports that the Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control and the Karolinska Institute have been working with the Pasteur Institute in Tehran. According to the report one of their projects involves the deadly CCHF virus, which the National Inspectorate of Strategic Products says can be used as a biological weapon of mass destruction. However, the head of Pasteur Institute, Mohammad Taghikhani, denies the accusation.

1 Comments:

At June 01, 2005 1:42 AM, Blogger Don Miguel said...

"'Mr. Musharraf knows better than anybody else that the Islamic Republic of Iran is not after nuclear weapons,' he said."

Ha!

"Asefi insisted that Iran was not seeking atomic weapons and said it was not Pakistan's business to make such comments."

Ha! Ha!

 

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