Iran's President Mohammad Khatami said today creation of nuclear weapons by his country, which has agreed to snap inspections by UN nuclear inspectors, would violate the Islamic faith.
The reformist leader, pressured by hardliners at home, also said his government was trying to protect people from violations of human rights.
"I have argued that as Muslims, our religious faith should not allow us to seek nuclear weapons," he said. "The Islam I know does not have a use for them."
He was speaking at the World Council of Churches (WCC), an ecumenical body, a day after his administration said it would sign a more stringent international inspection accord.
That came after months of pressure from Western powers and the UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which said last month Iran had for 18 years covered up sensitive nuclear research.
Mr Khatami, in Geneva for a UN information summit, said Islam proscribed harming of non-combatant civilians in war, but that would be inevitable in a nuclear conflict.
The president, who steps down in 2005 after two four-year terms, said Iran had many things to learn from the West.
"An example is democracy...like here in Switzerland," he said. "The only alternative to democracy is dictatorship and tyrannical rule."
Mr Khatami, answering questions from an audience of diplomats and Swiss religious leaders, said Iran itself had a democratic system but it accepted the need for criticism.