2 weeks ago
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An existential threat against Iran could cause a rethink of the Supreme Leader's injunction against nuclear weapons, one of his top foreign policy advisors told Lebanese news outlet Al Mayadeen.
Former foreign minister Kamal Kharrazi said changes to Iran's nuclear doctrine are possible, especially if Iran encountered an "existential threat", the pro-Islamic Republic channel reported without quoting his full remarks.
Kharrazi heads the Strategic Council on Foreign Relations and has hinted before that Iran could ditch its stated opposition to acquiring nuclear weapons but was offering his first public remarks since Israeli air strikes on Iran on Oct. 26.
Members of the body he leads are by handpicked by Ali Khamenei and its reports and advisories have often presaged major policy shifts by the ruling system.
Iran has the technical ability to produce nuclear weapons, Al Mayadeen cited Kharrazi as saying, but a religious decree by the country's ultimate decision maker Khamenei remained the only hindrance to such a move.
Iran has maintained that it will not pursue nuclear arms because the 2010 fatwa banned all weapons of mass destruction including nuclear bombs. The decree could potentially be interpreted by Iranian decision-makers as an advisory opinion lacking legal status, however.
Israel launched air strikes on military targets in Iran over the weekend in response to a missile barrage Tehran fired on the Jewish state on Oct. 1.
The attack hit missile facilities and air defense capabilities, killing four Iranian soldiers and a civilian.
Upping their rhetoric, the three top leaders of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on Thursday said a damaging counterstrike by Tehran was assured.
