Iran Issues Nuclear Warning to Israel

A huge banner posted on a building facade in Vali Asr square depicts Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps’ multiple missiles models aimed at Israel on April 16, 2024, in Tehran, Iran. Iran warned that it may revisit its nuclear weapons policy if Israel targets its atomic facilities in retaliation.

Iran said that it may have grounds to review its “nuclear doctrine” if Israel targets its atomic facilities as fear grows of a wider war breaking out in the Middle East.

The comment by a senior Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) commander on Thursday comes less than a week after Tehran launched an unprecedented missile and drone attack on Israel, which Iran said was in response to the deadly Israeli strike on its embassy in Syria earlier this month.

Israel has vowed to respond to Iran’s air raid, despite several of its Western allies, including the United States, urging for the tension to be contained before a greater conflict breaks out.

On Thursday, IRGC commander Ahmad Haqtalab, the head of Tehran’s nuclear security, said that the “threats of the Zionist regime [Israel] against Iran’s nuclear facilities make it possible to review our nuclear doctrine and deviate from our previous considerations,” as reported by the Tasnim News Agency, which is closely affiliated with the IRGC.

Haqtalab added that Israel’s nuclear facilities “have been identified, and we have the necessary information about all the targets…in other words, our fingers are on the trigger.”

Newsweek reached out to Israel’s Ministry of Defense via email for comment.

Iran has said that its nuclear program is strictly for peaceful purposes and that it is not in possession of nuclear weapons, although Western officials have raised concerns over Tehran’s potential nuclear capabilities.

Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has said that “building and stockpiling nuclear bombs is wrong and using it is haram,” or religiously forbidden. He told Al Jazeera in July 2022, however, that his country was technically capable of making atomic weapons.

President Joe Biden has reportedly told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Washington would not participate in any offensive action that Israel’s Defense Forces (IDF) takes against Iran. The U.S. and other partners helped defend Israel’s military facilities during Iran’s air raid on April 13, and Biden said at the time that nearly all missiles were intercepted before they reached Israeli territory.

Washington announced new sanctions on Thursday aimed at curbing Iran’s drone production. The United Kingdom said that it was introducing economic sanctions in coordination with the U.S. as well.

Biden said in a statement that leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) nations are “committed to acting collectively to increase economic pressure on Iran” and said that the U.S.’s allies will issue additional sanctions targeting Tehran’s military programs.

“Let it be clear to all those who enable or support Iran’s attacks: The United States is committed to Israel’s security,” the president added.

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron also called Iran’s attack “unacceptable” while speaking to reporters during a G7 foreign ministers’ meeting in Italy on Thursday.

“(It) is a message to Israel that we want to play our part in having a coordinated strategy that deals with Iran’s aggression,” Cameron said, according to a report from Reuters.

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