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Iran's Supreme Leader Embraced Concept of Nuclear Arms, Document Suggests

(Washington Post) Joby Warrick - In a speech three months ago, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei repeated his religious edict against nuclear weapons, insisting that his country would never build them. But a newly published document suggests that Khamenei embraced the concept of an Iranian nuclear bomb during a meeting of the country's top leadership more than two decades ago, saying nuclear weapons were essential for preserving Iran's Islamic Revolution. In 2009 the International Atomic Energy Agency prepared a collection of statements made by Iranian leaders about nuclear weapons, as gleaned from intelligence sources. It includes an April 1984 meeting in which Khamenei allegedly endorsed a decision by then-leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to launch a secret nuclear weapons program. "According to Ayatollah Khamenei, this was the only way to secure the very essence of the Islamic Revolution from the schemes of its enemies...and to prepare it for the emergence of Imam Mahdi" (who will purge the world of evil in humanity's last days). The IAEA document was obtained by the Institute for Science and International Security.
2012-04-23 00:00:00
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