Former director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Mohammad El Baradei[/caption]Tehran, Feb 16, IRNA- Former director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Mohammad El Baradei calls the idea of a military action against Iran and those who support it, crazy.
According to Scoop news website, El Baradei said: 'Anybody who is calling for a military solution for the Iranian issue is crazy, because you will get a much worse situation than what you have'.
The 2005 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for efforts to prevent nuclear operation, who was speaking at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand, added: 'Nobody today is vouching that Iran is developing nuclear weapons. I think even the U.S. intelligence agencies, as you probably know, say that Iran stopped any nuclear weapons research, assuming that they had done that'.
Warning about the possibility of the extremist groups getting their hands on a nuclear power, El Baradei also said: 'God forbid, some of these extremist groups get their hands on a nuclear weapon or even a powerful radioactive source. They (extremists) have no return address, and deterrence for them has no meaning. They are ready to die, anyway.'
Also criticizing the countries that tend to keep their weapons while telling everybody else they cannot even touch the knowledge of nuclear technology, he continued: 'Why do we continue to believe that we can continue to rely on nuclear weapons, and be surprised that other countries will eventually go and get them? How you could have a system that is sustainable that is based on, 'Some are more equal than others'? I mean, it doesn't work.'
According to the former IAEA chief, every country that possesses the nuclear energy could be a threat. He said: Where you have a regime that is paranoid that it could come under attack -- like North Korea -- you worry about it. But at the end of the day, you worry about every country that operates nuclear weapons, even in the U.S.,'
He also mentioned his concerns on the ongoing issue in Ukraine and said: 'You do not want to see any escalation that anybody would think of using nuclear weapons (because of Ukraine). And I don't think, at least hopefully, either NATO or Russia are thinking in that direction. They understand the implications of that.'
By IRNA
