DHAKA: Iran’s president said the Islamic Republic has decided not to develop nuclear weapons out of principle, not only because it is asked to do so by treaties.

Hassan Rouhani told defence ministry officials on Saturday that if Iran wanted weapons of mass destruction, it would be easier for it to make chemical or biological weapons.

Rouhani was reiterating a policy set by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who issued a religious decree banning the production and use of nuclear weapons.

He has said holding such arms is a sin as well as ‘useless, harmful and dangerous’.

‘We are not after weapons of mass destruction. That’s our red line,’ Rouhani said, rpeorts AL Jazeera.

‘If Iran was after weapons of mass destruction, it would build chemical weapons. Those are easier to make. It would build biological arms, which are even easier than making chemical weapons.’

BDST: 1840 HRS, MAR 01, 2014