A senior Iranian foreign policy official said on Friday that Iran could build a nuclear weapon at any time if “supreme leader” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei wishes it so – and it might soon in the event of an “existential threat” emerging.
Kamal Kharrazi, the leader of the Iranian “Strategic Council on Foreign Relations,” claimed that the only “obstacle” to Iran building a nuclear weapon is an alleged fatwa, or Islamic religious edict, issued by Khamenei outlawing nuclear weapons. No evidence exists that Khamenei has ever issued any such fatwa, despite edicts of high importance typically requiring formalization on paper. Despite this, Iranian regime sympathizers have for years used the alleged “fatwa” to claim that Tehran is a trustworthy partner for nuclear disarmament negotiations or even suitable as a reliable peaceful nuclear energy state.
Kharrazi’s remarks, published in the pro-Hezbollah Lebanese outlet Al Mayadeen, follow multiple threats from other senior officials in Iran against Israel, including high-ranking members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) terrorist organization. The IRGC officials claimed this week that the Islamist regime is preparing a “severe” attack on Israel in response to a wave of airstrikes last week by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) targeting Iranian missile manufacturing facilities and other sites that enable Iranian terrorism against Jerusalem.
“If the Islamic Republic of Iran faces an existential threat, we will inevitably change the policy of our military doctrine [to allow nuclear weapons],” Kharrazi said, according to the Iranian state outlet PressTV. “We now have the necessary capability to produce [nuclear] weapons, and the only obstacle is the Leader’s fatwa that prohibits the production of nuclear weapons.”
Kharrazi claimed that the alleged fatwa, which no evidence indicates is real, was a result of Tehran having “considered the Westerners’ sensitivity,” but that Iran may soon abandon that posture and not only produce a nuclear weapon, but enhance its development and manufacture of missiles.
The senior Iranian official used the interview to encourage America and other Western nations to “wake up and exert pressure on Israel” to stop defending itself from the mostly Iran-backed genocidal terrorists that launched a war against the democratic state a year ago.
“Unfortunately, we still see the West, including European countries and the United States, continue to support such a brutal and criminal entity and defend its actions by funding it and sending weapons,” Kharrazi said.
The Iranian proxy terrorist organization Hamas invaded Israel on October 7, 2023, prompting the ongoing war with the massacre of an estimated 1,200 people, including children as young as infants, and a wave of mass abductions, gang rape, and other atrocities. Other Iranian proxy groups – such as Hezbollah, the Yemeni Houthis, and the “Islamic Resistance in Iraq” – also declared war on Israel and have been engaging in terrorist attacks against Israel for the past year. Most attacks have been unsuccessful, though Hezbollah, headquartered in Lebanon, has managed to displace tens of thousands of Israelis in the north of the country.
While Khamenei, President Masoud Pezeshkian, and the small circle of elites ruling Iran often insist they are not interested in developing a nuclear weapon, Kharrazi is far from the first to suggest that Tehran is ready to build one imminently. In May, lawmaker Ahmad Bakhshayesh Ardestani claimed in an interview that Iran could not only build a nuclear weapon, but had already done so.
“In my opinion, we have achieved nuclear weapons, but we do not announce it. It means our policy is to possess nuclear bombs, but our declared policy is currently within the framework of the JCPOA,” Ardestani said. “The reason is that when countries want to confront others, their capabilities must be compatible, and Iran’s compatibility with America and Israel means that Iran must have nuclear weapons.”
Kharrazi at that time had again stated that the alleged fatwa could be undone if Tehran deems it necessary.
“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,” Kharrazi said at the time.
Other Iranian officials, especially those affiliated with the IRGC, made statements fuming at Israel this week for a coordinated military attack on Iranian missile facilities, which was a response to two direct Iranian missile barrages targeting Israeli population centers. Iran first attempted to bomb Israel in April, in an attack in which the IDF intercepted 99 percent of hundreds of projectiles. Iran again attempted such an attack in October and mostly failed to hit any targets. of those projectiles. A second missile attack in October was moderately more successful but also largely intercepted.
On October 26, the IDF responded, effectively neutralizing Iran’s ability to manufacture more missiles in the short term.
“Based on intelligence, IAF [Israeli Air Force] aircraft struck missile manufacturing facilities used to produce the missiles that Iran fired at the State of Israel over the last year,” the IDF explained in a statement on Saturday. “These missiles posed a direct and immediate threat to the citizens of the State of Israel. Simultaneously, the IDF struck surface-to-air missile arrays and additional Iranian aerial capabilities, that were intended to restrict Israel’s aerial freedom of operation in Iran.”
The commander of the IRGC, Major General Hossein Salami, proclaimed on Thursday that Iran’s response to the attack “will surpass all expectations.” Similarly, IRGC deputy commander Brigadier General Ali Fadavi claimed that Iran “can target everything the Zionists [Israel] possess in a single operation.” Neither offered details on what Iran is planning or how it plans to replenish its ability to manufacture missiles and other weapons.