TEHRAN – In a remarkable acknowledgment, the U.S. Department of Defense said Iran is not pursuing nuclear weapons, refuting Western propaganda that it may be doing so.

While U.S. politicians continue to capitalize on Iran’s exaggerated nuclear threat for domestic political gains, the U.S. State Department set the record straight on Iran’s nuclear program. It said, “It is assessed that Iran is not pursuing a nuclear weapons program at this time.”

The Pentagon assessment came in a report dubbed “Strategy for Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction,” which also addressed other countries possessing nuclear programs.

The report is the latest confirmation that Iran’s nuclear program is peaceful and does not pose any threats to international security despite allegations to the contrary.

Despite the peaceful nature of its nuclear program, Iran has extensively cooperated with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to allay concerns over its nuclear activities. Recently, the top nuclear official of Iran has said that the country is under international scrutiny more than any other country in the world. 

Mohammad Eslami, head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization (AEOI), said on Wednesday that it is not reasonable for Iran to be inspected 10 times more than other countries while the size of Iran’s nuclear facilities is about 2% of the world’s nuclear facilities.

In an interview with Al Jazeera on Wednesday, Eslami said that Tehran has good cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

He also noted that at least 120 inspectors of the Agency are accepted and actively working within Iran whereas some are rejected which is totally Iran’s rights.

The AEOI head added that Tehran keeps an eye on the performance of inspectors which is its right whether to accept or reject some of them.    

 “The inspection operations that the Agency conducts in Iran are about 25% of the inspection operations that it conducts around the world, it is not logical that we are inspected more than 10 times by other countries,” he complained.

Nevertheless, some in the West continue to level unfounded accusations against Iran, with some even opining that Iran is already a nuclear threshold country. 

And U.S. officials seem to have fallen for this kind of propaganda. In remarks before the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, U.S. President Joe Biden implied that Iran might be willing to acquire nuclear weapons. He said that the Americans “remain steadfast in our commitment that Iran must never acquire a nuclear weapon.”

This kind of messaging runs counter to the countless reports by the IAEA which refute in no uncertain terms that Iran is seeking a nuclear weapon. 

The IAEA has so far produced dozens of reports all confirming the peaceful peace of Iran’s nuclear program. But these reports have fallen deaf ears in the West. 

In addition, Iranian officials, including the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, have time and again said that Tehran is not seeking nuclear weapons as they run counter to Islamic teachings, which prohibit the use and production of such weapons given their inhumane consequences.

By Mehran Shamsuddin