The Iranian envoy to the United Nations said in an interview Thursday that Iran’s retaliation for the elimination of terrorist Qasem Soleimani was complete following the ballistic missile attack on American assets in Iraq this week and denied the Islamic regime is pursuing nuclear weapons.

National Public Radio (NPR) published an interview with Majid Takht Ravanchi following the attacks.

Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep asked Ravanchi if Iran’s retaliation against the United States had concluded.

“What we have said is that we took a measured, proportionate response to the terrorist assassination of our top general, Qasem Soleimani last night,” Ravanchi said. “And as far as Iran is concerned, that action was concluded last night.”

“So it depends on the United States,” Ravanchi said. “If the U.S. ventures to attacking Iran again, definitely proportionate response will be taken in response to that attack.”

Inskeep also asked him about the Islamic regime’s nuclear ambitions.

“President Trump, in making his statement responding to Iran’s retaliation, began with this sentence: quote, ‘As long as I am president of the United States, Iran will never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon,’” Inskeep said. “Iran has said it doesn’t want a nuclear weapon. Is that a statement on which you can agree with the president?”

“What I can tell you is that we are not seeking nuclear weapons,” he said. “It is not in our interest to have nuclear weapons.”

“It is against the religious verdict of our supreme leader,” Ravanchi said. “It is not within the defense doctrine of the Islamic Republic to have nuclear weapons.”

“We believe that [a] nuclear weapon is a liability for any country,” Ravanchi said, adding that he believed the U.S. “is acting to deprive Iran from its rights.”

Breitbart News has reported extensively on Iran’s nuclear weapons ambitions, including during the Obama administration when the claim surfaced that Iran’s Supreme Leader had issued a “fatwa,” or religious edict, against nuclear weapons use.

Experts, however, including those at the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), have stated that “such a fatwa was never issued by Supreme Leader Khamenei and does not exist; neither the Iranian regime nor anybody else can present it… MEMRI has conducted in-depth research with regard to this ‘fatwa’ and has published reports demonstrating that it is a fiction.”

Ravanchi’s remarks on Iran standing down after the latest attack contradict what other Iranian officials have said about targeting the United States, including Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, UPI reported:

In remarks broadcast nationally, Khamenei said the launches that targeted American and coalition forces in Erbil and al-Asad were not sufficient to rid the region of corruption he said has been created by the U.S. presence. “The lying Americans, who are not worthy of being valued, tried to portray this brave man as a terrorist but the Iranian nation punched them in the mouth,” Khamenei said. “The talk of revenge and such debates are a different issue. For now, a slap was delivered on their face last night.” “What is important about confrontation is that the military action as such is not sufficient. What is important is that the seditious American presence in the region must end.”

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday that the “ultimate revenge” against America for the elimination of terrorist leader Qasem Soleimani would be the full withdrawal of American troops from the Middle East.

NPR also asked Ravanchi if Iran intended to harm Americans with the missile attack. Ravanchi called it a “proportionate response” for Soleimani’s death.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Mark Milley said on Wednesday that the attack was “intended to kill personnel.”

“In my professional assessment, at al Asad there were, as you know, 16 missiles, 12 impacts; 11 landed at al Asad,” Milley told reporters. “Points of impact were close enough to personnel and equipment and so on and so forth. I believe based on what I saw, and what I know, is that they were intended to cause structural damage; destroy vehicles, equipment, and aircraft; and to kill personnel.”

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