Official: Iran may seek out nuclear weapons

Iran’s intelligence minister raised the possibility Tuesday that his country would be forced to seek nuclear weapons if U.S. sanctions were not lifted, an attention-grabbing break from the country’s pledge that its atomic energy program would always be peaceful.

The remarks by the intelligence minister, Mahmoud Alavi, were reported on state television and added pressure on the 3week-old Biden administration to avert a new crisis with Iran. An administration official called the remarks “very concerning.”

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final word on military and security matters, issued a religious edict, or fatwa, in the 1990s proclaiming that nuclear weapons are forbidden. That is still Iran’s official position.

But Alavi said that U.S. sanctions that have devastated Iran’s economy could force a change of plans.

“Our nuclear program is a peaceful program, and the supreme leader clearly said in his fatwa that producing nuclear weapons is against religious law, and the Islamic Republic will not pursue it and considers it forbidden,” he said. “But let me tell you, if you corner a cat it might behave differently than a cat roaming free. If they push Iran in that direction, it would not be Iran’s fault but the fault of those who pushed Iran.”

Alavi’s comments came against the backdrop of an escalating standoff between Iran and President Joe Biden, who has said the United States would rescind the sanctions if Iran first returned to commitments it made under the 2015 nuclear agreement. Iran has said the sanctions, imposed by former President Donald Trump after he withdrew from the accord in 2018, must be rescinded first — and that Iran must be able to verify that they have been rescinded.

In Washington, a State Department spokesman, Ned Price, called Alavi’s comments “very concerning,” adding that it was not yet clear whether Alavi “was speaking for anyone but himself.”

Analysts of Iran’s posturing with Biden said the minister’s remarks were part of an orchestrated crescendo of threats. They include a Feb. 21 deadline, under a new Iranian law, that would bar international nuclear inspectors from visiting Iranian nuclear sites if the sanctions are not rescinded by then.