In his interview Thursday with NBC News’ Ann Curry, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that Iran does not need such weapons, refusing to say whether there were any scenarios under which Iran would develop a nuclear weapon.
The interview was conducted on the grounds of Iran’s presidential compound.
Ahmadinejad said that nuclear weapons are no longer useful.
“If nuclear weapons were influential, they would have prevented the downfall of the Soviet Union — for that matter, the downfall of the Zionist regime,” he said, referring to Israel, long believed to possess 200 nuclear weapons. “Our people have never had a need for nuclear weapons.”
“So, may I assume, then, your answer to that question is ‘no’?” Curry asked.
Again, Ahmadinejad said: “We don’t need such — we don’t have a such a need, nuclear weapons. We don’t need nuclear weapons. Without such weapons, we are very much able to defend ourselves.”
