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The West cannot stop Iran from building nuclear weapons, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei declared on Sunday whilst visiting an exhibition on Iran’s nuclear programme.
“On the basis of our Islamic ideals, we do not want nuclear weapons,” Khamenei said, stating that talk of Iranian nuclear weapons was “a lie”. “But if this wasn’t the case, [the West] would not be able to prevent us from doing so, just like they could not prevent our nuclear advancements so far”, added the Ayatollah.
Tehran has systematically advanced its nuclear programme, despite the JCPOA and subsequent negotiations. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has stated that no country has ever enriched uranium to such high-levels without subsequently developing a nuclear weapon.
The level of total-enriched uranium is now 21 times higher than the JCPOA limit. Watchdogs and regulatory bodies including the IAEA have been refused access to key sites where the enrichment of near-weapon grade uranium takes place. Footage of the sites, which had been fixed as a supervisory mechanism, has not been handed over to the IAEA whilst uranium continues to be enriched by up to 60%, with efforts being made to reach levels as high as 84%. This represents a short technical jump of a matter of days to the 90% required for a nuclear weapon.
If this jump is made, U.S. officials have purportedly passed clear messages to Tehran that there will be a severe response, according to the Axios website. The limit originally agreed under the JCPOA was 3.67%. In 2018, US President Donald Trump pulled out of the JCPOA and diplomatic efforts to revive the deal have been hindered by Iran’s continual breach of agreed regulations.
Despite issuing a fatwa, an Islamic opinion, that nuclear weapons are against Islam in 2003, the Supreme Leader said that “the infrastructure of our nuclear industry should not be touched”. Ex-Iranian diplomat Amir Mousavi has commented that the fatwa can be reversed if needed, the Times of Israel reported.
