Tehran: Amid mounting tensions with Israel, an adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has issued a stark warning, suggesting a potential shift in the country’s nuclear doctrine if its existence is threatened.
“We have no decision to build a nuclear bomb but should Iran’s existence be threatened, there will be no choice but to change our military doctrine,” remarked Kamal Kharrazi, an adviser to Khamenei.
This statement follows a similar assertion in 2022 when Kharrazi noted Iran’s technical capability to construct a nuclear bomb but emphasized the absence of a decision to proceed with such plans.
Ayatollah Khamenei, wielding ultimate authority over Tehran’s nuclear program, had previously prohibited the development of nuclear weapons through a religious edict, or fatwa, issued in the early 2000s. He reiterated this stance in 2019, deeming the construction and accumulation of nuclear bombs as “wrong and using it is haram,” or religiously forbidden.
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However, amid escalating tensions with Western powers, including Israel, there have been indications of a potential policy shift. Iran’s former intelligence minister suggested in 2021 that increased Western pressure could drive Tehran towards nuclear weapons development.
The longstanding enmity between Iran and Israel reached a boiling point recently, with Tehran launching approximately 300 missiles and drones against Israel in retaliation for a suspected Israeli strike on its embassy compound in Damascus. In response, Israel conducted an attack on Iranian territory.
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Meanwhile, Iran engaged in negotiations with the UN’s nuclear watchdog last week regarding the implementation of a deal struck in the previous year aimed at expanding inspections of Iran’s rapidly advancing atomic program. Rafael Mariano Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has cautioned that Iran possesses sufficient uranium enriched to near-weapons-grade levels to produce “several” nuclear bombs if it chooses to do so.
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Tensions between Iran and the IAEA have been on the rise since 2018, following the unilateral withdrawal of the United States from Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers by then-President Donald Trump. Subsequently, Iran has abandoned all restrictions imposed by the deal on its nuclear program and has enriched uranium to levels nearing 60%, approaching the threshold of weapons-grade purity.
