In a recent interview with the website affiliated with the former Iranian regime’s ambassador to France, Sadegh Kharazi, a former member of the Iranian parliament Ahmad Bakhshayesh Ardestani reasserted the regime’s need to acquire nuclear weapons. The interview was ironically and meaningfully published on the website “Diplomacy” on May 21, notably one day after the announcement of the helicopter crash that killed Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.
Bakhshayesh Ardestani stated in the interview, “I believe if we had reached the military nuclear point earlier, the late Amir-Abdollahian would not have faced this level of challenges in foreign policy over the past two and a half years. Therefore, based on the experiences from the Zarif-era and the late Amir-Abdollahian, it is essential to acquire nuclear weapons as soon as possible to provide a robust backing for future foreign ministers in diplomacy.”
This former MP, tasked once again with publicly threatening nuclear weapon development, told the regime’s Diplomacy website, “The language of dialogue, negotiation, and diplomacy of Westerners, especially Americans, with a nuclear-armed country is entirely different. As Mike Pompeo, the U.S. Secretary of State under Donald Trump, was asked why the maximum pressure policy is applied to Iran despite North Korea having multiple cases, he responded that North Korea is a nuclear power, and one cannot enter a crisis with such a country. Returning to our discussion, the late Hossein Amir-Abdollahian tried his utmost to implement all decisions and strategic directions from relevant authorities in nuclear, regional, and other foreign policy areas.”
Wary of facing pushback from its warmongering in the #MiddleEastConflict, #Iran's regime has sent another official to play the nuclear extortion card, hinting that its Supreme Leader may reconsider his fatwa and pursue nuclear weapon production. pic.twitter.com/NR14AOpObd
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) April 9, 2024
In recent weeks, Iranian state officials have repeatedly resorted to threatening with the nuclear weapons card. On May 10, Ahmad Bakhshayeshi Ardestani told the state-run Ruydad 24 website, “In my opinion, we have obtained nuclear weapons, but we are not announcing it. Our executive policy is to possess nuclear bombs, but our official policy is currently to stick with the framework of the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action). Because when countries want to go head-to-head, they should be at the same level of prowess. Iran being at the same level as the United States and Israel implies that Iran must have nuclear weapons.”
Despite calls from the European Union, the United States, and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) urging Iran to abandon suggestions that it might develop nuclear weapons, Tehran continues to use nuclear blackmail, demonstrating the futility of Western approaches.
Kamal Kharazi, head of the Strategic Council on Foreign Relations and advisor to the regime’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, stated in an interview with Al Jazeera Mubasher, “We have no decision to produce nuclear bombs, but if Iran’s existence is threatened, we will be forced to change our nuclear doctrine.” He reiterated this statement a few days later.
Earlier in April, Mahmoudreza Aghamiri, a state-affiliated university professor with a Ph.D. in nuclear energy, told state television, “According to the Supreme Leader’s fatwa, building a nuclear bomb is religiously forbidden, but if his opinion and fatwa change, we have the capability to build a nuclear bomb.”
Since 2002, following the world’s decision to finally react to a series of revelations by the Iranian Resistance about the regime’s secret nuclear weapons program, Tehran has repeatedly used overt threats and behind-the-scenes negotiations to exert nuclear blackmail. This strategy aims to impose its security, political, and strategic demands on other countries.
Despite official denials, Tehran sends various officials to pressure the West about nuclear weapon development, hoping to gain concessions while facing severe internal and international pressures. This tactic aims to prevent the regime, the leading state sponsor of global terrorism, from facing its inevitable fate.