IRNA – Economic sanctions on Iran are not because of military weapons; they are set to prevent Iran from progress in science, said the commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) in Mashhad on Tuesday.

"The sanctions do not target supply of weapons because they know that nuclear arms has no place in Iranian defense doctrine; they attempted to stop Iran from scientific advances because they know science is central to power," said Major-General Hossein Salami.

"According to Fatwa issued by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, producing or stockpiling nuclear arms is forbidden. Islam has forbidden weapons of destruction because in the Islamic ideology killing one person amounted to killing the entire community."

Major-General Salami said that the assassination of Iranian scientists clearly reveals the enemy is trying to block Iran's road to science.

He said that the country's independence will not be possible without scientific power.

"Before the Islamic Revolution, all scientific and technological formulas were available to Iran, but we didn’t make anything; though, Today we make weapons, refineries, medicines, airplanes, and whatever else we need. That’s why the enemy has no choice but to limit their goals against Iran."

They once thought about toppling the Islamic Republic, they got disappointed; now, their power is falling though with a slight gradient, which shows the US economic and political power is falling, he added.

"Even the West Asian powers depending on the US are shaky."