Amid the brewing tensions in the Middle East, Iran has issued a warning that it will change its nuclear doctrine if Israel threatens its existence. The comments came from Kamal Kharrazi, an adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
"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," said Kharrazi. He further said: "In the case of an attack on our nuclear facilities by the Zionist (Israel) regime, our deterrence will change."
His comment yet again raised suspicion towards Tehran’s nuclear program, which the West Asian nation has always emphasises as peaceful. Apparently, Iran has always asserted that it has no plans to obtain nuclear weapons. However, the western governments have remained sceptical about the claim. Hence the Iranian nuclear program has been at the centre of a long-running dispute that has led to the imposition of multiple sanctions.
The comment carries even more weightage considering Kharrazi’s earlier statement in 2022, when he had said Iran was technically capable of making a nuclear bomb but had not yet decided whether to build one.
Ayatollah Khamenei's stance on nuclear stockpiles
Khamenei banned the development of nuclear weapons in a fatwa, or religious edict, in the early 2000s. In 2019, he reiterated his stance saying hat building and stockpiling nuclear bombs was "wrong and using it is haram", or religiously forbidden.
However, in 2021, Iran's then-intelligence minister said that Western pressure could push Tehran towards nuclear weapons.
The rivalry between Iran and Israel has persisted since long, but the direct confrontation was always avoided by both sides until April this year. Last month, Tehran launched about 300 missiles and drones against Israel in a retaliatory action against a suspected Israeli strike on its embassy compound in Damascus, Syria.
(With Reuters Input)
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