Tehran, Iran – The latest threats of military action against Iran by United States President Donald Trump have prompted more discussions about the possibility of Iran abandoning nuclear non-proliferation.
Senior White House officials have again said Iran must do away with its nuclear programme entirely, leaving all uranium enrichment activity, even at low levels.
Amid intense US air strikes on Yemen, Trump has also said the US will hold Tehran responsible for any attacks by Yemen’s Houthis, dismissing Iran’s insistence that the group operates independently.
This has only led to more calls from within Iran to abandon its officially stated policy that it will never pursue nuclear weapons.
‘Nuclear year’
On Tuesday, Vatan-e Emrooz, a top daily newspaper run by ultraconservatives, marked the upcoming end of the Iranian year on March 20 by saying more countries will ponder nuclear bombs for their security as a result of Trump’s policies.
“Nuclear year”, read its headline, complete with an image of a massive nuclear explosion.
Nournews, an outlet affiliated with Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said there will be “no guarantees” Iran will not abandon the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) if Trump and his team keep threatening.
Ahmad Naderi, a member of the presiding board of the Iranian parliament, told a public session of the assembly last week that “perhaps it is time for us to rethink our nuclear, military and security doctrine”.
The Tehran lawmaker has also previously backed testing intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads, claiming “there will be no balance in the region” unless Iran possesses a bomb.
Such calls have increasingly gained favour among hardline factions in Iran, echoing a sentiment that the establishment is prepared to dash for a bomb if its existence is threatened.
Last week, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whose religious ruling currently bars Iran from seeking weapons of mass destruction, also commented.
“If we wanted to make nuclear weapons, America could not stop us. If we do not have nuclear weapons and are not pursuing them, it is because we do not want it,” Khamenei said.
According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which carries out inspections of Iranian nuclear sites, Iran has amassed enough fissile material for multiple bombs but has made no effort to build one.
On the same page with China, Russia
In the years since Trump’s 2018 unilateral withdrawal from Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers, Washington’s European allies have become increasingly hawkish on the Iranian nuclear programme.
They have pushed Iran to curb its nuclear advances despite no prospects of lifting sanctions, introduced censure resolutions at the board of the global nuclear watchdog, and demanded more answers over several nuclear-related cases – some dating back two decades.
Years of escalation over Tehran’s cooperation with the IAEA, in addition to European anger over Iran’s closer ties with Moscow in light of the Ukraine war, have prompted Iran to maintain closer coordination with China and Russia.
The three countries have been holding talks in Beijing to present a more unified approach on the Iranian nuclear issue, especially over sanctions.
France, Germany and the United Kingdom, the European powers still party to the Iranian nuclear accord of 2015, continue to threaten to activate its “snapback” mechanism to reinstate all United Nations sanctions against Iran.
China and Russia oppose the move.
The E3 have said they are pursuing the snapback because they are concerned about the use of advanced centrifuges to enrich high-purity uranium, alleged non-compliance with the nuclear accord, and alleged provision of ballistic missiles by Iran to Russia.
Iran has strongly rejected that it delivered missiles to Russia, and has maintained that it only sent some drones to Russia months before the start of the war.
Iranian officials also held talks with IAEA chief Rafael Grossi this week, and the country objected to what it called “an unwarranted interference” in its engagements with the IAEA after the United Nations Security Council held a meeting over its nuclear programme.
The closed-door meeting prompted Iran’s foreign ministry to summon the E3 ambassadors to protest against “misuse” of the UNSC mechanism.
The White House said on Tuesday that Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed during a phone call that “Iran should never be in a position to destroy Israel”.
Trump letter, threats
The US president’s threat that “every shot” fired by the Houthis in Yemen will be viewed as an attack from Iran has escalated tensions.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said Iran provides “so-called intelligence” to the Houthis, which has been viewed in Iranian media and online as a potential military threat against Iran’s Zagros warship, inaugurated in January.
The Iranian army in a statement on Tuesday rejected speculation that had circulated online claiming that the Zagros was hit with any projectiles, and said the warship was safely anchored at Bandar Abbas in Iran’s southern waters.
The Iranian-built vessel is the first large signals intelligence (SIGINT) vessel deployed by Iranian armed forces, and there has been Western speculation that it may be able to assist the Houthis in their operations by giving them data.
Telegram channels linked with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Tuesday denied the presence of any Iranian navy ships in the Red Sea, Bab al-Mandeb Strait and the Indian Ocean.
But the Iranian currency continued its descent this week on the back of the possibility that the US or Israel may attack Iran. The rial briefly hit the psychological threshold of 1,000,000 against the US dollar in the open market on Tuesday before regaining some ground today.
While calling for talks with Tehran under his “maximum pressure” policy, Trump has sent a letter to the Iranian supreme leader this week.
The text of the letter has not been publicised, but it is believed to have again presented Iran with a choice between negotiations or military action.
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei told reporters this week that the letter is not very different from Trump’s public statements. He said Iran, which has rejected talks under maximum pressure, will respond after a thorough review.