Iran's Chairman of the Assembly of Experts says the West strongly opposes Tehran's nuclear activities to monopolize nuclear technology.

“Western countries know deep down that Iran is not seeking atomic bombs,” Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani told a gathering of university students in Tehran on Friday.

They knowingly try to keep other countries away from high technology, he added.

Rafsanjani said Iran "never used non-conventional weapons in the war with Iraq," a measure that he said signals Tehran is not after weapons of mass destruction.

The Iranian city of Sardasht in West Azarbaijan Province was attacked with chemical weapons by Iraq in 1987. Iran did not retaliate in kind during the eight-year war with Iraq.

The US and Israel, both possessors of nuclear warheads, accuse Iran of pursuing a secret nuclear weapons program. Tehran denies the charges as baseless.

Tehran, as a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), says it is entitled to peaceful nuclear technology.

Iran's nuclear activities are supervised by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The latest report by the agency confirmed the non-diversion of declared nuclear material in Tehran's nuclear program.

AR/JG/DT