Raisi Says Iran Not Seeking Nuclear Weapons

Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi arrives at Bandaranaike International Airport in Katunayake near Colombo on April 24, 2024. (AFP)
Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi arrives at Bandaranaike International Airport in Katunayake near Colombo on April 24, 2024. (AFP)
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Raisi Says Iran Not Seeking Nuclear Weapons

Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi arrives at Bandaranaike International Airport in Katunayake near Colombo on April 24, 2024. (AFP)
Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi arrives at Bandaranaike International Airport in Katunayake near Colombo on April 24, 2024. (AFP)

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said on Saturday his country was not seeking to develop nuclear weapons despite assertions from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that it was close to acquiring enough material to develop a bomb.

“Iran is not planning on acquiring nuclear weapons because Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei had issued a fatwa against them,” said Raisi according to the Arab World Press.

IAEA chief Rafael Grossi had recently stated that Iran was weeks rather than months away from obtaining enough enriched uranium to develop a nuclear bomb.

“This does not mean that Iran possesses or will possess a nuclear weapon in that period of time,” he added in a report earlier this week.

Raisi, meanwhile, claimed that Tehran’s “nuclear ideology” does not at all include the development of nuclear arms.

He stressed that Iran was seeking to use nuclear technology for peaceful means.

He called for lifting the sanctions imposed on his country, declaring that they will not yield their desired results.

Vienna has hosted numerous rounds of talks between Iran and western powers with the aim of reviving Tehran’s 2015 nuclear agreement that the United States withdrew from in 2018.

An informed source denied claims that Iran was pursuing direct negotiations with the US to restore the deal, reported Iran’s IRNA news agency last week.

It said Tehran and Washington were still exchanging messages “within specific frameworks” and that top Iranian negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani was following up on the negotiations.

Iran is enriching uranium to up to 60%, close to the roughly 90% that is weapons grade, at its Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant (PFEP) in its sprawling Natanz complex and at its Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant (FFEP), which is dug into a mountain.



Malta Offers to Repair Gaza Aid Ship in Drone Strike Row

FILE PHOTO: A tug vessel puts a fire on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla vessel Conscience outside Maltese territorial waters in this handout picture provided by Malta Government Department of Information, May 2, 2025. Government of Malta/Handout via REUTERS
FILE PHOTO: A tug vessel puts a fire on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla vessel Conscience outside Maltese territorial waters in this handout picture provided by Malta Government Department of Information, May 2, 2025. Government of Malta/Handout via REUTERS
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Malta Offers to Repair Gaza Aid Ship in Drone Strike Row

FILE PHOTO: A tug vessel puts a fire on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla vessel Conscience outside Maltese territorial waters in this handout picture provided by Malta Government Department of Information, May 2, 2025. Government of Malta/Handout via REUTERS
FILE PHOTO: A tug vessel puts a fire on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla vessel Conscience outside Maltese territorial waters in this handout picture provided by Malta Government Department of Information, May 2, 2025. Government of Malta/Handout via REUTERS

Malta offered on Sunday to repair an aid ship and send it on its way to Gaza after pro-Palestinian activists said the vessel had been hit by a drone strike.

But Prime Minister Robert Abela said the Freedom Flotilla Coalition must first allow a maritime surveyor on board to inspect the "Conscience" and determine what repairs are needed, AFP reported.

The pro-Palestinian activists had pointed the finger at Israel, which has blockaded the Gaza Strip throughout its military campaign against Hamas, for the attack.

If the ship can be fixed at sea, it will be, but otherwise it will be towed under Maltese control to the Mediterranean island for repairs, paid for by Malta.

"In the last few hours there was insistence that first the boat comes into Maltese waters and then the surveyor is allowed onboard," Abela said.

"Before a vessel -- any vessel -- is allowed to enter Maltese waters then control must be in the hands of Maltese authorities, especially when we are talking about a vessel with no flag, no insurance."

In an online press conference, members of the coalition who had been due to board the Conscience in Malta -- including Swedish activist Greta Thunberg -- said they had agreed to allow the inspection.

"When we received this offer from the Maltese government, we consulted with all of our Flotilla Coalition committee members who are on board," said Brazilian FFC volunteer Thiago Avila.

"And their decision is that this is a good proposition from the Maltese government," he said.

"As long as they can guarantee ... Conscience will not be stopped when it wants to leave on the humanitarian mission to take aid to Gaza."

The activists explained the Conscience has no flag because the government of the Pacific nation of Palau had announced that they were withdrawing their registration on Friday, the day of the alleged strike.

Otherwise, they insisted they had made every effort to comply with international maritime law when embarking on the mission to take aid to Palestinians in Gaza.

According to the Flotilla Coalition, the Conscience was attacked in international waters as it headed for Malta on Friday, causing a fire that disabled the vessel and minor injuries to crew members.

Maltese and Cypriot rescuers responded. No government has confirmed the Conscience was the victim of drones, but Cyprus's rescue agency said it had been informed by the island's foreign ministry of an Israeli strike.

The Israeli military did not provide an immediate response when contacted by AFP.

First reported by CNN, a flight tracking service showed that an Israeli C-130 military cargo plane had been in the area immediately before the incident and had made several low altitude sweeps over the area.

Israel is known for conducting covert operations beyond its borders, including several during the Gaza war that it only acknowledged later.

The activists said the strike appeared to target the boat's generator.