“Nuclear weapons have lost their deterrence and the use of them by any country will inflict great and irreversible damage on nations and future generations,” said Rafsanjani in a meeting with Spanish ambassador to Tehran Pedro Antonio Villena Perez on Monday.
He added that European countries are making a “big mistake” by increasing their suspicion about Iran at an international level, IRNA reported.
He expressed hope that Spain, as a member state of the European Union, would take effective steps towards correcting such mistakes.
Rafsanjani emphasized that all nations, including the Islamic Republic, have the right to use the nuclear energy for peaceful purposes and called for joint efforts to build confidence.
He pointed to growing relations between Tehran and Madrid after the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979 and said the Islamic Republic would proceed with its previous policy on the expansion of balanced, respectful ties with other countries.
The Spanish ambassador, for his part, said the main strategy of his country is based on resolving differences through diplomatic channels.
He added that despite certain problems between Iran and the European Union, Tehran-Madrid relations have been improved, particularly in trade and cultural fields.
The United States and the European Union have imposed tough financial sanctions as well as oil embargoes against Iran since the beginning of 2012, claiming that the country's nuclear energy program includes a military component.
Tehran refutes such allegations, saying that frequent inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency have never found any diversion in Iran's nuclear energy program toward military purposes.
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