Iran's nuclear bomb warning to Israel raises concern amid war with Hamas

A recent comment by an Iranian official, an adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, raised speculation on further escalations in the Middle East, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. The official said Iran will change its nuclear doctrine if Israel continues to threaten its existence in the current conflict.

In its nuclear doctrine, Iran has always expressed it has no plans to obtain nuclear weapons. While Western governments have long suspected that Tehran wants to obtain a nuclear bomb, its peaceful doctrine dictates otherwise.

Speaking to a local news network, Kamal Kharrazi echoed Iran's policy of having no plans to built a nuclear bomb, but issued a sharp threat to Israel by suggesting it might change its nuclear doctrine soon.

Kamal Kharrazi said to Iran's Student News Network on Thursday, “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.”

“Recently, the military officials also announced that if Israel wants to attack nuclear facilities, it is possible and imaginable to revise Iran’s nuclear doctrine and policies and divert from the previous declaration considerations,” he said.

In 2022, the same adviser said Iran was technically capable of making a nuclear bomb but had not yet decided whether to build one. Khamenei, who has the final say in Tehran's nuclear program, banned the development of nuclear weapons in a fatwa, or religious edict, in the early 2000s.

In his latest comment on the topic, Kharrazi said, “In the case of an attack on our nuclear facilities by the Zionist regime, our deterrence will change.”

Iran and Israel have long been arch enemies, but what was for decades a shadow war erupted into open confrontation in April, when Tehran launched about 300 missiles and drones against Israel in retaliation for a suspected Israeli strike on its embassy compound in Damascus.

Despite being surrounded by sensitive nuclear sites, the Iranian city of Isfahan came under heavy Israeli fire in the recent weeks. This was a retaliatory move by Israel, after Iran launched a drone and missile attack on the country last month.

(With inputs from AP, AFP)