Pezeshkian: Iran does not want nuclear weapons – October brings most Hormuz attacks
Iran's president insists Tehran is not seeking the bomb and says it is ready for dialogue. Britain's maritime agency reports more attacks on ships than at any time since March.
Symbolic image · Photo: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain (cropped and resized)
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has denied that Tehran is seeking nuclear weapons. Iran "is not seeking nuclear weapons," he said on Friday, according to CBS News, at a meeting with Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on the sidelines of a U.N. biodiversity summit in Yerevan. He called claims to the contrary "lies." Iran was ready for dialogue, he said, calling U.S. sanctions "unjustifiable and inhumane." Army spokesman Mohammad Akraminia said the Strait of Hormuz would reopen if U.S. forces left the region – otherwise "we will expel it."
The UK Maritime Trade Operations agency said October is the busiest month for reported attacks in the strait since March. There were ten attacks in the week to Friday and one ship sank; the true figure is hard to track because most ships no longer report attacks. In Washington, the Pentagon intends to release an internal report on the strike on a school in southern Iran no earlier than after the November 3 midterm elections, Bloomberg reported. At least 156 people, including 120 children, were killed in that attack.