Iranian Officials Promoting Country’s Nuclear Capability Idea, Change in Doctrine

A report on the website of the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) states that against the backdrop of the behind-the-scenes contacts toward US – Iran nuclear negotiations, and US President Donald Trump’s announcement of US – Iran talks in the next few days, senior Iranian officials have, in March and April 2025, been calling for changing Iran’s nuclear doctrine, from its current declared policy of a nuclear program solely for civilian purposes to a program for developing nuclear weapons.

In a series of statements, Majlis members, commentators, websites, and regime mouthpieces have asked decision makers to abandon the regime’s declared religious principle – which is false and is based on a nonexistent fatwa by Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei – banning nuclear weapons and to begin producing them. For these senior officials, this shift is justified by the US threats against Iran, the report mentions.

”Now, regime representatives are claiming that this fatwa banning nuclear weapons, which has been presented as a binding religious law – and which MEMRI has proven many times to be nonexistent – is open to interpretation, adaptation, and even a temporary freeze in the event of a state of emergency, primarily when “defending the existence of the regime.” It is now being argued that under these circumstances, it is possible and even obligatory to deviate from it,” says the report.

For example, the Nournews website, which is affiliated with Iran’s Supreme National Security Council that deals with nuclear policy and decision-making, warned on April 2, 2025 that “if Iran’s existence is threatened by America and Israel, then defence by all available and potential means will be necessary and legitimate.” It based this on the principle of the father of Iran’s Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, i.e. that the preservation of the regime takes priority over other principles such as jurisprudent rulings.

According to MEMRI, other examples were the statements by senior regime official Ali Larijani, top adviser to Supreme Leader Khamenei, who said on March 31 that were the US inclined to “make a mistake on the Iran nuclear issue”, it would force Iran to take nuclear action in self-defence.

Additionally, Mansour Haqiqatpour, a former Majlis member said a few days later, on April 4, that if Iran were to be bombed “we will also strike Dimona [in Israel] with nuclear weapons,” stressing that Iran’s nuclear breakout time currently stood at only one week and that “even though the Supreme Leader has forbidden the use of nuclear weapons, he has never forbidden obtaining the knowledge to produce them.”

Likewise, on April 6, Mohammad Qassem Othmani, a member of the Majlis Planning and Budgetary Committee, called for “swiftly obtaining nuclear weapons in order to deal with the global arrogance” – the Iranian regime’s term for the US on an equal footing at the negotiating table.

Also, Majlis member Mohammad Reza Sabaghian said on April 8, following President Trump’s announcement that there would be direct US – Iran talks, that “the answer to Trump and [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu is building nuclear weapons.”

The MEMRI report says that in addition to the argument that possessing nuclear weapons was justified by the need to protect the survival of the regime and the revolution, regime officials reiterated the claim that they would provide deterrence and stability via a balance of nuclear threat.

These arguments, maintaining that “nuclear deterrence prevents war,” had previously been raised in connection with the negotiations with the Biden administration. On March 31, Ahmad Naderi, a member of the Majlis Presidential Committee, tweeted “If we had the bomb, Trump would not threaten [us]” and provided North Korea as an example. On March 18, the Vatan-e Emrooz daily, which is affiliated with the ideological camp in Iran, wrote that “Iran has significant reasons for developing nuclear weapons,” first and foremost the direct threats from the US and Israel and the need for effective deterrence.