TEHRAN – Iran has rejected the leaders-level statement of the three European signatories to the 2015 nuclear deal and the United States, underlining that it will not seek to develop a nuclear weapon.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said in a statement on Monday that nuclear weapons have no place in Iran’s defense doctrine.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran has always emphasized at the highest levels that in accordance with the fatwa of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution on the prohibition of the production and use of nuclear weapons, it will not seek to build nuclear weapons.  In addition, these weapons have no place in the defense doctrine of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Khatibzadeh asserted. 

These leaders accused Iran of seeking to develop a nuclear weapon, underlining that they won’t allow it to obtain such a weapon. 

“We, the President of France, Chancellor of Germany, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and President of the United States, met in Rome today to discuss the risks posed to international security by Iran’s escalating nuclear program. We expressed our determination to ensure that Iran can never develop or acquire a nuclear weapon and shared our grave and growing concern that, while Iran halted negotiations on a return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) since June, it has accelerated the pace of provocative nuclear steps,” the joint statement said.