Authored by RFE/RL Staff via OilPrice,
It was once taboo in Iran to publicly speak about developing nuclear weapons. The authorities would often point to former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's religious edict barring the development of weapons of mass destruction. Iranian officials have long insisted the country's nuclear program is solely for civilian purposes.
Open calls for a bomb from sitting lawmakers and senior security officials would have been unthinkable a few years ago. But with the war with the United States in limbo, that's no longer the case.
After almost eight months of conflict and with Washington reportedly weighing strikes on Pickaxe Mountain, a deep underground site where US and Israeli officials say Iran has moved thousands of centrifuges, the talk is even growing.
Kamal Kharazi, an adviser to Khamenei who was killed in Israeli strikes earlier this year, said in 2024 that Tehran "might review our nuclear doctrine" if it felt an existential threat. The US-Israeli war against Iran this year seems to be seen by some as that very existential threat.
Khamenei and a cadre of Iran's top security and military brass were killed in the opening salvo of the war on February 28. While the strikes mostly targeted sites affiliated with the state, the military, or nuclear facilities, civilian infrastructure was also hit and ordinary Iranians killed.
Major US military operations have wound down in favor of READ MORE AT SOURCE »
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