Iran initially planned to develop a nuclear bomb to strengthen itself but failed to maintain the secrecy of the program, a former deputy speaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly said Sunday.
"From the very beginning, when we entered the nuclear activity, our goal was to build a bomb and strengthen the deterrent forces, but we could not maintain the secrecy of this issue, and the secret reports were revealed by the group of hypocrites,” Ali Motahari told Iran-based Iscanews.
Iran has always insisted that its nuclear program is peaceful.
Motahari said a country that wants to use nuclear power peacefully never starts enrichment but first establishes a reactor and then enters the field of enrichment.
"But the fact that we enrich directly creates the illusion that we want to make a bomb," noted Motahari.
