Iran will have to change its nuclear doctrine if Israel threatens it, an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader Kamal Harazi said, raising concerns about Iran’s nuclear weapons.
“We did not plan to build a nuclear bomb, but if Iran’s survival is threatened, we will have no choice but to change our military doctrine,” Harazi said, Iran’s Student News Network reported on Thursday, adding that Tehran had already made it known it had the potential to build one. weapons.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei banned the development of nuclear weapons by fatwa in the early 2000s, reiterating his position in 2019, when he declared that “building and stockpiling nuclear bombs is wrong, and their use is haram (religiously forbidden)… Although we have nuclear technology, Iran resolutely avoids it.”
But in 2021, Iran’s then-intelligence minister said Western pressure could force Tehran to work on nuclear weapons.
“In the event that the Zionist regime (Israel) attacks our nuclear facilities, we will no longer hesitate,” Harazi added.
In April, Iran and Israel reached an all-time high, with Tehran directly launching some 300 missiles and drones at Israel in retaliation for an unconfirmed Israeli attack on the Iranian embassy compound in Damascus that resulted in casualties.
Iran has been developing its nuclear facilities in recent years, claiming they serve purely civilian purposes.
After protracted negotiations over concerns that Tehran could develop nuclear weapons, Iran signed a nuclear deal in 2015 that drastically limits uranium enrichment and authorizes the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to carry out strict inspections.
The United States has since pulled out of the deal in 2018 under then-President Donald Trump, and Tehran has begun enriching uranium and moved closer to weapons-grade uranium purity as well as limiting IAEA inspections.
Recently, former leading Iranian politicians have hinted that the country is now technically capable of developing nuclear weapons, Hina reports.
