By Palestine Chronicle Staff  

Iran is ready to manufacture nuclear weapons as a form of deterrence if Israel crossed this line .. 

A top Iranian official said on Thursday that if its existence is threatened, Tehran will have no choice but to change its military doctrine on nuclear weapons. 

The comments by Kamal Kharrazi, a senior adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei were largely expected following the recent violence between Israel and Iran. 

Determined to distract from its genocidal war in Gaza, Israel has tried to rope Iran and the US into a regional war by bombing Iranian targets, and, on April 1, destroying the Iranian consulate in Damascus killing top officials and military advisors. 

Iran retaliated, on April 13, with hundreds of drones and missiles that, despite initial Israeli denial, have struck military targets throughout the country.  

The latest episode, perceived as a victory for Iran’s deterrence strategy, has strengthened the belief among some Iranian officials that nuclear weapons are necessary to keep Israel at bay. 

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Israel is the only nuclear power in the region, with an arsenal estimated at hundreds of nuclear warheads, which can strike Iran and other countries. 

On November , Israel’s Minister of Heritage, Amichai Eliyahu, has threatened to drop a nuclear bomb over Gaza. The statement further confirmed what many have already known that Israel has operational nuclear weapons, and, under certain circumstances it is ready to use them. 

Iran, on the other hand, though enriching uranium for civilian use, has decided not to acquire nukes for ethical reasons, as indicated by a religious decree issued by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. 

That view, however, has been changing in recent years. 

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First Kharrazi Comments

In July 2022, Kharrazi said that Iran is technically capable of making a nuclear bomb but has not decided whether to build one, Reuters reported. 

His comments came a day after US President Joe Biden ended a four-day trip to Israel and Saudi Arabia, vowing to stop Iran from “acquiring a nuclear weapon.” 

The anti-Iran rhetoric seemed to unify the US, Israel and several Arab countries, raising alarm bells in Tehran. 

“In a few days we were able to enrich uranium up to 60% and we can easily produce 90% enriched uranium … Iran has the technical means to produce a nuclear bomb but there has been no decision by Iran to build one,” Kharrazi said in a message to the country’s US-led enemies.

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‘Iran’s Existence’ 

The latest comments, quoted widely in Iranian media and Arab and international news outlets can be considered a step closer to the decision of acquiring nuclear bombs as a form of deterrence. 

“If Iran’s existence becomes threatened, there will be no choice but to change its military doctrine,” Al-Jazeera quoted the same Iranian official, Kharrazi, as saying. 

The final decision, however, according to the official, lies in this premise: “If the Zionist regime (meaning Israel – PC) launches an attack on our nuclear facilities, our deterrence will change.”

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The Fatwa

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei had issued a Fatwa, or a religious decree, at the turn of the millennium prohibiting the manufacture of nuclear weapons. 

In 2019, he reiterated the same position when he said that “the manufacture and storage of nuclear bombs is wrong, and their use is forbidden. Although we have nuclear technology, Iran has completely refrained from that.” 

In 2021, however, that position began shifting when Iran’s intelligence minister said that Western pressure could push Tehran to seek nuclear weapons.

(The Palestine Chronicle)