Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast

Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast says the fatwa religious decree issued by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei on the prohibition of nuclear weapons is binding for Iran. "There is nothing more important in defining the framework for our nuclear activities than the Leader's fatwa," Mehmanparast said during his weekly press conference on Tuesday. When the Leader expresses his religious viewpoint in the form of a fatwa, it will be mandatory for us to act according to it, he added. On February 22, 2012, Ayatollah Khamenei said the Islamic Republic considers the pursuit and possession of nuclear weapons a grave sin, from every logical, religious and theoretical standpoint: Mehmanparast concluded, "This fatwa is our operational instruction." The United States, Israel and some of their allies have repeatedly accused Iran of pursuing non  civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program. Iran argues that, as a committed signatory to the Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), is entitled to develop and acquire nuclear technology for peaceful purposes. Iran P5+1 talks: Referring to the talks between Iran and the P5+1, Britain, China, France, Russia and the US plus Germany, Mehmanparast said both sides had reached an agreement on the date of the negotiations. The Iranian official added that the agreement had been reached during a phone conversation between EU's Deputy Secretary General for Political Affairs Helga Schmid and Undersecretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Ali Baqeri on Monday. The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, however, did not mention the date of the next round of the talks.