Iran has the technical capability to produce nuclear weapons if it chooses, an adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei revealed on Friday. In an interview with the Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Mayadeen outlet, Kamal Kharrazi said Iran is ready to develop nuclear arms, but is currently restrained by a religious decree.

“We now have the technical capabilities necessary to produce nuclear weapons,” Kharrazi said. “Only the supreme leader’s fatwa currently prohibits it,” he added, referencing a religious ruling issued by Khamenei in the mid-1990s against the use of nuclear arms.

However, Kharrazi hinted that the policy might shift if Iran’s security were significantly threatened. “If the survival of Iran comes under serious threat, we reserve the right to reconsider,” he warned.

Kharrazi’s comments follow a statement he made in May, where he cautioned that any attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities by Israel would result in a shift in Iran’s deterrence strategy. “If the Zionist regime dares to damage Iran’s nuclear facilities, our level of deterrence will be different,” he told ISNA news agency. He clarified that while Iran has no current intention to produce a nuclear bomb, “if the existence of Iran is threatened, we will have to change our nuclear doctrine.”

Concerns over Iran’s nuclear ambitions have escalated amid reports that the Islamic Republic has made advances in its secret nuclear program. In August, Iran International, a London-based opposition media outlet, reported that Iran was progressing toward a nuclear weapon by reorganizing its Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research (SPND), retaining Mohammad Eslami as head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, and resuming tests on nuclear bomb detonators.

The Biden administration reportedly issued a private warning to Tehran in June over its research and development activities, Axios reported in July, citing Israeli and U.S. officials.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)