Iran will have "no choice" but to seek nuclear weapons if its existence is threatened - Khamenei advisor
Kyiv • UNN
An advisor to Iran's Supreme Leader stated that the country may develop nuclear weapons for self-defense if the United States or its allies launch an attack. This would be a forced step.
Iran will have to obtain nuclear weapons if it is attacked by the United States or its allies, an adviser to the country's supreme leader warned on Monday after a threat from US President Donald Trump, UNN writes with reference to AFP.
Details
The comments came after Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed to retaliate if Trump carries out a threat to bomb the Islamic Republic if it does not strike a deal to limit its nuclear program.
"We are not moving towards (nuclear) weapons, but if you do something wrong in the Iranian nuclear issue, you will force Iran to move towards this, because it must defend itself," Khamenei's adviser Ali Larijani told state television.
"Iran does not want to do this, but... (it) will have no choice," he added.
"If at some point you (the US) go to bombing on your own or through Israel, you will force Iran to make a different decision," Larijani said.
Addition
Trump said on Saturday that "there will be bombings" if Iran does not agree to a nuclear deal, according to NBC News, also saying that he threatened to punish Tehran with what he called "secondary duties."
Despite the sharpness of Trump's comments, it is unclear whether he threatened bombings by the United States or an operation coordinated with another country, "perhaps Iran's enemy Israel."
"They threaten to do harm," Khamenei said of the remarks during a speech in honor of the holiday marking the end of the Muslim month of fasting Ramadan.
"If this is implemented, they will definitely receive a powerful counterattack," he noted.
The message was sent to the UN Security Council in a letter from Iran's Ambassador to the UN Amir Said Iravani, in which he condemned what he called "militant provocations."
Iran will "respond quickly and decisively to any act of aggression or attack by the United States or its proxy, the Israeli regime," the envoy added.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry summoned the chargé d'affaires of the Swiss Embassy, which represents US interests in Iran, "after threats from the US president," the ministry said in a statement.
"The Americans have at least 10 bases in the region around Iran, and they have 50,000 soldiers," warned General Amirali Hajizadeh, a senior commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran.
"The one who is in a glass room should not throw stones at anyone," threatened on Monday on state television the man in charge of Iran's ballistic missile program.
Since taking office in January, Trump has resumed his "maximum pressure" policy, which in his first term led to the US withdrawal from a key deal on Iran's nuclear program and the resumption of sanctions against Tehran.
Western countries, including the United States, have long accused Iran of seeking to create nuclear weapons, which Tehran denies, insisting that its uranium enrichment activities pursue exclusively peaceful goals.
The 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers required Iran to limit its nuclear processing in exchange for the lifting of sanctions.
On March 7, Trump said he wrote to Khamenei to call for nuclear talks and warn of possible military action if Tehran refused.
The letter was delivered to Tehran on March 12 by an envoy of the United Arab Emirates, Iranian news agency Fars reported at the time.
On Thursday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi said a response had been sent via Oman, without elaborating on its contents.
Aragchi said Iran would not participate in direct negotiations "under maximum pressure and the threat of military action."
However, in his remarks, the minister left the door open for "indirect negotiations."
According to NBC, Trump said that US and Iranian officials are "communicating" but did not provide details.
Iranian President Masud Pezeshkian said on Sunday that Khamenei, who, as Supreme Leader, has the last word on key state policies, has allowed indirect negotiations.
Oman has acted as a mediator in the past, in the absence of diplomatic relations between the United States and Iran, severed after the Islamic Revolution of 1979.
On Monday, Aragchi said the United States had received a letter from Iran.
"Our friends in Oman have informed us that the letter has reached the addressee and has been read," he noted.
In addition to the nuclear program, the West also accuses Iran of using puppet forces to expand its influence in the region, an accusation Tehran denies.
"There is only one puppet force in this region, and that is the corrupt usurping Zionist regime," Khamenei said, calling on Israel to be "eradicated," the publication writes.