By RIA Novosti,
Moscow : Iran has lodged a protest with the UN over a comment made by US Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton against it in the context of the Middle East situation, calling the remark “provocative”.
Responding to a question about her policy as president should Iran ever attack Israel with nuclear weapons, Hillary Clinton said last week in a television interview: “I want the Iranians to know, if I’m the president, we will attack Iran.”
In a letter sent to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon late Wednesday, Iranian deputy envoy to the UN claimed that Clinton had “under erroneous and false pretexts threatened to use force against the Islamic Republic of Iran.
” It also condemned her words as “provocative and irresponsible,” calling them “a flagrant violation” of the UN Charter.
Iran has so far defied three rounds of UN Security Council sanctions over its nuclear programme. Many western nations suspect that Tehran has a secret weapons plan in the guise of a civilian nuclear project.
The Islamic country has repeatedly denied the allegation and said it needs nuclear technology for energy.
A senior Russian government official said Wednesday after talks with the Iranian leadership in Tehran that the country was not developing nuclear weapons.
“We believe that Iran is currently not involved in nuclear research for military purposes, but we are certain that our opinion must be shared by all countries involved in the resolution of this [Iranian uranium enrichment] problem,” Valentin Sobolev, the acting head of Russia’s Security Council, said.