Iran owns technical capabilities to make a nuclear bomb, official says

The head of Iran’s Strategic Council on Foreign Relations, Kamal Kharazi, said his country has the technical capabilities to manufacture a nuclear bomb, but has not decide to make one.

“It is no secret that we have the technical capabilities to manufacture a nuclear bomb, but we have not decided to do so,” Kharazi,who is also a senior adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, said in an interview with Al Jazeera’s Arabic channel.

“In a few days we were able to enrich uranium up to 60 per cent and we can easily produce 90% per cent enriched uranium,” he added.

Kharazi said Israel “is in a phase of weakness, and US President Joe Biden’s support for it will not bring it back to the fore.”

READ: EU: End of Iran nuclear talks near but may not yield deal

Israel has threatened to attack Iran’s nuclear sites if Tehran’s nuclear programme is not contained through diplomacy.

“Any targeting of our security from neighbouring countries will be met with direct response to these countries and Israel,” Kharazi warned.

Regarding the indirect talks with the United States to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, Kharazi said it is difficult to conduct direct dialogue with Washington in light of lack of trust between the parties.

He called for launching a regional dialogue in the presence of important countries, such as Saudi Arabia, Turkiye, Egypt, Qatar and others, revealing that Qatar has made important proposals regarding the regional dialogue.

Kharazi stressed that the only solution to the region’s crises is the formation of a regional dialogue hub to resolve political and security differences.

Regarding the formation of the regional defence alliance similar to NATO, Kharazi said it is a superficial idea, adding that Saudi Arabia confirmed that it is not on the table.