Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, former Supreme Leader of Iran, wrote in 1988 that Iranian military leaders were seeking nuclear weapons, according to a letter released Saturday by former Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani.

Khomeini reportedly sent the letter to political leaders during the Iran-Iraq War. In it, he describes why he was forced to agree to a cease-fire which, as he described it, was like "drinking poison."

In the letter, he quotes military leaders who had urged him to stop the war unless the army was equipped with advanced weapons systems including fighter planes, helicopters, and laser-guided missiles.

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The officers also told him, he wrote, that if Iran wished to win the war and not reach a cease-fire, it should obtain nuclear weapons, a process which could take five years.

This is the first time an official document has come from Iran indicating the country's interest in achieving nuclear capability, a charge the government consistently denies.

Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA) discovered that Iran began a nuclear program 19 years ago, and since then has violated its international obligations by failing to report its acquisition of materials and equipment used for developing nuclear arms.

Several Iranian news sources have erased sections of the letter in which Khomeini describes what he believes is Iran's need for nuclear weapons.

Analysts believe that Rafsanjani timed the release of the letter in order to embarrass Ahmadinejad, who has repeatedly denied Iran's intention of pursuing nuclear arms. Ahmadinejad defeated Rafsanjani in the latter's 2005 re-election bid.

The publication of the letter may also be part of power struggles taking place within religious and political leadership circles in Iran.

In his letter, Khomeini describes the demands made of him by military leaders, singling out General Muhsain Razai, then leader of the Revolutionary Guards and today responsible for an influential news website.

On his site, Razai rejected the charge that it was he who recommended to Khomeini that he end the war with Iraq.