Iran could be pushed to build a nuclear weapon if Israel threatens its existence, an adviser to the country’s supreme leader has warned.
“We do not have the decision to build a nuclear bomb, but if the existence of Iran is threatened, we will have no choice but to change our military doctrine,” Kamal Kharrazi, advisor to the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“In the event of an attack on our nuclear facilities by the Zionist regime, our deterrence will change,” he was quoted as saying by the Iranian Student News Network.
The comments raised questions about what Iran has long claimed is a peaceful nuclear program.
Khamenei, who has the final say on the matter, banned the development of nuclear weapons in a fatwa, or religious decree, in the early 2000s, saying it was “haram,” meaning prohibited. by Islam.
But in 2021, Iran’s intelligence minister at the time said Western pressure could push the Islamic republic to pursue nuclear weapons.
-Iran enriches uranium to 60 percent purity, while weapons-grade uranium is enriched to around 90 percent. If currently available nuclear materials were further enriched, it would be enough to make two nuclear weapons, according to an official criterion of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Growing threat
The shadow war between Iran and Israel escalated into open confrontation in April, after an alleged Israeli strike on the Iranian embassy compound in the Syrian capital Damascus killed seven members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), including two generals who led the elite Quds Force in Syria and Lebanon.
Iran responded by launching around 300 missiles and drones against Israel.
Israel has regularly launched attacks against targets linked to Iran and the Lebanese group Hezbollah in Syria since 2017, increasing the frequency and intensity of strikes on the so-called “axis of resistance” since the start of his war against Gaza last October.
On Thursday, Syrian air defenses shot down what the Defense Ministry said were Israeli missiles fired from the Golan Heights in northern Israel toward the outskirts of Damascus, targeting a building in the countryside, according to the Syrian news agency SANA.
The attack, which occurred around 3:20 a.m. (00:20 GMT), caused “some material losses,” according to the report.
