Iran's influential former president, Mr Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, said today religious and moral beliefs prevented the Islamic Republic developing nuclear arms.
The United States accuses Iran of secretly developingnuclear arms under cover of a civilian atomic programme. But Iran says its nuclear activities are peaceful.
"Because of our religious and moral beliefs and commitmentsthat the Koran has created for us, we cannot and will not pursue such weapons that destroy humanity," Mr Rafsanjani said today prayers sermon in Tehran broadcast live on state radio.
Mr Rafsanjani, a top adviser to Iran's most powerful figure,Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, accused Washington oftrying to create a crisis to "blackmail" the Islamic Republic.
"We will follow our path, Iran will follow its policy ofdetente, we are not adventurists, we are not looking for weapons of mass destruction," he said.
"But Iran will not be blackmailed and we are ready tosacrifice our lives for fighting arrogance".
Mr Rafsanjani said although regional countries such asRussia, Pakistan, India and Israel had nuclear weapons, "America is making such a fuss over Iran's peaceful aims".
"It is ridiculous . . . they [the United States] have the biggest arsenals, theygave nuclear weapons to whoever they wanted . . . and when Iran wants to use nuclear energy for non-military aims, they create such a propaganda brawl," he said.
"By making such propaganda they prepare the American peoplefor approving their leaders' adventurist policies," he said.