Tehran has the capacity to develop nuclear weapons, should it choose to do so, an adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said on Friday.
“We now have the technical capabilities necessary to produce nuclear weapons,” Kamal Kharrazi told the Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Mayadeen outlet.
“Only the supreme leader’s fatwa currently prohibits it,” he said, referring to a religious ruling made by Khamenei in the mid-’90s against the use of nuclear weapons.
“If the survival of Iran comes under serious threat, we reserve the right to reconsider,” added Kharrazi.
In May, Kharrazi told the ISNA news agency that, “If the Zionist regime dares to damage Iran’s nuclear facilities, our level of deterrence will be different. We have no decision to produce a nuclear bomb, but if the existence of Iran is threatened, we will have to change our nuclear doctrine.”
In August, Iran International reported that the Islamic Republic was advancing its secret nuclear program, bringing the mullahs closer to building atomic bombs.
Three independent sources in Iran told the London-based opposition media outlet that the regime was moving forward with its nuclear weapons program “by restructuring the Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research (SPND), retaining Mohammad Eslami as the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, and resuming tests to produce nuclear bomb detonators.”
The Biden administration privately warned Tehran in June about its research and development activities, Axios reported on July 17, citing three Israeli and U.S. officials.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last week at the opening of the Knesset’s winter session that Jerusalem is pursuing a “long-term strategy” focused on neutralizing Iran’s nuclear program.
“I will lay it out in simple terms: Our long-term strategy, which I hope will be achieved shortly, is to dismantle the evil axis, sever its tentacles in the north and south, exact a heavy toll from Iran and its proxies and prevent it from obtaining nuclear arms.”
While noting that “for obvious reasons” he could not share all the actions taken and plans in this regard, Netanyahu emphasized that, “I have not given up on this central objective. Preventing a nuclear Iran is our main concern.”
