Where is evidence Iran planned to build nuclear weapons, Russia questions

MOSCOW: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday that Moscow had still not seen any evidence that Iran was developing nuclear weapons, amid what he said was “essentially a war” ongoing in the Middle East.

“We still see no evidence that Iran was developing nuclear weapons, which was the main, if not the only, justification for the war.”

Lavrov also warned in a press conference that the war launched by the US and Israel against Iran could prompt not only Iran but also its Arab neighbors to seek to acquire nuclear weapons.

“This war unfolded against Iran may cause not just Tehran, but other countries as well, to develop nuclear weapons,” the top diplomat pointed out. “Such sentiments may quickly emerge in Arab countries neighboring Iran,” he added.

Lavrov emphasized that “the seemingly paradoxical noble goal of starting a war to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons may stimulate the exact opposite.”

The United States and Israel launched a large-scale military operation against Iran on February 28.

The White House justified the attack by citing alleged missile and nuclear threats from Iran.

The US leadership openly called on the Iranian population to rise up against their government and seize power.

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and several other senior figures in the leadership of the Islamic Republic were killed.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced a retaliatory operation, targeting sites in Israel. US military bases in Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia were also hit.