In his speech at the Arab-Iranian Dialogue Meeting held in the capital Tehran, Kharrazi, the head of the Strategic Council for Foreign Relations under Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, touched upon his country's nuclear weapons strategy.
Stating that there is a nuclear weapons problem in the region stemming from Israel, Kharrazi said, "In this respect, it should be said that Israel has nuclear weapons. We still want a region free of nuclear weapons and we continue to support this idea, but there will be no peace and security in the region until Israel, which has nuclear weapons, is disarmed."
"If any country wants to threaten Iran with nuclear weapons, we can reconsider our nuclear doctrine," Kharrazi said, adding that Israel threatens the countries in the region and that is why there is unrest in the region.
"The leadership of the revolution (Khamenei) has a fatwa that nuclear weapons are forbidden, but if the enemy threatens you, you need to change your doctrine," Kharrazi said.
KHAMENEI'S FATWA BANNING NUCLEAR WEAPONS
Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei issued a fatwa in the early 2000s banning the development or use of nuclear weapons.
After the Israeli attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus on April 1, some politicians in the country claimed that Khamenei's fatwa could change and Iran could also produce nuclear weapons.
Javad Kerimi Quddousi, a member of the parliament's Supreme National Security Council and conservative MP, claimed that if Khamenei's fatwa changes, the first nuclear test would be conducted within a week. The Iranian MP's post had also caused reactions within the country.
In a speech on April 27, President Ibrahim Reisi said that there was no room for nuclear weapons production in his country's nuclear and defense doctrine in line with Khamenei's fatwa.
International Atomic Energy chief Rafael Mariano Grossi announced that Tehran has enough enriched uranium to make "several" nuclear bombs if it wanted to.
