(AFP) - Iran said it was "hostile" towards the development of nuclear weapons, a day after North Korea claimed an atomic weapons test, but said the big powers have to start disarmament, reports Trend.
"The Islamic Republic is hostile to the production and utilisation of nuclear weapons and to destruction," said government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham.
"The best solution to combat nuclear weapons is for the big powers to start by destroying them themselves," he was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency.
He pledged Tehran's help if the world's nuclear powers were serious in achieving this goal.
The five UN Security Council permanent members, Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States, plus Germany, are expected to begin discussing this week a resolution imposing sanctions on Tehran if it does not halt its own nuclear program.
Tehran insists its nuclear program is solely for peaceful energy needs, vehemently rejecting allegations that it is seeking nuclear weapons.
Following North Korea's announcement Monday of its weapons test, Iran said it wants a world "free of nuclear weapons".
"Iran's position is clear and Iran on principle believes in a world free of nuclear weapons," foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini was quoted as saying by a state television anchor.
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