Nuclear weapons
Iran: No revision of nuclear doctrine
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman: Nasser Kanaani. photo
© Shadati/Xinhua/dpa
An Iranian commander recently made headlines with statements about changes to Iran’s nuclear program. The Foreign Ministry denies this.
According to information from Tehran, Iranian policy will not include a revision of nuclear doctrine or the construction of nuclear weapons give nuclear weapons.
“Nuclear weapons have no place in Iran’s defense strategy and our nuclear program will continue to be in line with international regulations,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said, according to the Tasnim news agency. There will therefore be neither a revision of defense doctrine nor the construction of nuclear weapons. The spokesman thereby rejected recent controversial statements by a commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
The country’s nuclear security commander, Ahmad Hagh-Taleb, claimed last week that the country could chart a new course in its nuclear program. If Israel threatens Iran with attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities and wants to put the country under pressure, a “review of the nuclear doctrine and policy of the Islamic Republic” as well as an agreement on old principles is “possible and conceivable,” Hagh-Taleb told the news agency Tasnim. Recently, tensions between Iran and Israel had become extremely acute.
Iran has always maintained that its country is not seeking nuclear weapons for religious reasons. In this regard, the country referred to a fatwa – a religious legal opinion – from Iran’s highest religious leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. In this, Khamenei banned both the construction and use of weapons of mass destruction. The 85-year-old cleric is the country’s head of state and, according to the Iranian constitution, has the final say on all strategic issues.