Iranian Foreign Minister's Slip of the Tongue: "We Emphasize the Peaceful Nature of Our Nuclear Weapons... I Mean... of Our Nuclear Power Plant..."

Following are excerpts from an interview with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, which aired on Channel 2, Iranian TV on June 7, 2006.

Manouchehr Mottaki: We emphasize the peaceful nature of our nuclear weapons... I mean... of our nuclear power plant, and nuclear energy and activities. We have no need for nuclear weapons, as we've often said. Nuclear weapons are not part of our defense doctrine.

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I told the Emir of Kuwait during my visit there that while Kuwait is 120 km away from Bushehr, the population of Bushehr itself is less than 2 km from the power plant. Our people are important to us. The structure of the power plant of Bushehr can withstand earthquakes. Its technical equipment is supervised by experts. It conforms to the most up-to-date standards, and it is under the supervision of the IAEA. In other words, they will supervise the plant when it becomes operative.