A conference at the University of Tehran about Iran’s nuclear program has produced some of the harshest criticism yet of its costs to the country, prompting condemnation from a parliamentary official, who called for legal action to be taken against the prominent Iranian panelists.

The Iranian Students’ News Agency published the transcripts of the conference, and the story became popular on social media after foreign-based Radio Farda compiled some of the conference's highlights.

Ahmad Shirzad, a former parliament member who came into office in the 2000 Reformist sweep, said, “During that time in parliament, I said that no water will come from the nuclear well. … Not even a glass of water. If you ask me why the country went in a nuclear direction, I have to answer that I do not know.”

Shirzad said that one of the issues is that just like the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s, when UN Resolution 598 was finally signed, “A small group of people sitting behind closed doors who think they have all the wisdom” are making decisions for an entire nation. Unlike the oil, gas and petrochemicals industries, Shirzad said that Iran does not have the primary resources and technological know-how to run a nuclear program.