IRGC commander Ahmad Vahidi said Tehran would pursue nuclear weapons while the United States and Israel retain theirs, prompting Israel’s prime minister to pledge continued action to prevent Iran from obtaining a bomb.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Iran’s top Revolutionary Guard commander said Wednesday that Tehran intends to continue developing nuclear weapons as long as the United States and Israel possess them, escalating concerns over the future of Iran’s nuclear program as negotiations continue over the Strait of Hormuz.
Ahmad Vahidi, commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, framed Iran’s nuclear ambitions as a matter of national security and tied any potential disarmament by Tehran to comparable action by Washington and Jerusalem.
“As long as the United States and Israel possess nuclear weapons, we will continue working on them for our national security,” Vahidi said, according to a translation of remarks circulating Wednesday. “If they disarm, we will disarm.”
The statement intensified warnings that Iran could use negotiations surrounding the Hormuz shipping crisis to delay substantive concessions on its remaining nuclear capabilities while seeking sanctions relief or other benefits from the United States.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded by saying Israel would continue working to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons regardless of whether diplomatic talks produce an agreement.
“Today, we heard the commander of the Revolutionary Guards, Vahidi, explicitly declare Iran’s intention to continue developing nuclear weapons — ‘continue,’ as he put it,” Netanyahu said.
The Israeli leader delivered his remarks during a ceremony marking the reinterment of Shimon and Rivka Herzl, the grandparents of Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern-day Zionism.
“Well, as prime minister of Israel, I too am determined to continue — to continue preventing Iran from possessing nuclear weapons,” Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu praised President Donald Trump as Israel’s greatest friend to serve in the White House and expressed gratitude for the joint efforts by the United States and Israel to counter Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.
“Israel’s existence is not subject to negotiation,” Netanyahu said. “With an agreement or without an agreement, I am determined — we are all determined — to do whatever is necessary to ensure our security and our future.”
The public exchange came as nuclear specialists urged Trump to keep Iran’s nuclear program at the center of broader negotiations rather than allow the dispute over commercial access through the Strait of Hormuz to overshadow it.
Those experts warned that Tehran could attempt to use the maritime crisis as leverage to obtain sanctions relief and other concessions before agreeing to restrictions affecting its nuclear infrastructure, enriched uranium or weapons-related work.
Vahidi’s declaration also directly challenged diplomatic efforts to portray Iran’s nuclear ambitions as negotiable. By conditioning Iranian disarmament on the United States and Israel abandoning their own nuclear arsenals, the commander established a demand neither country is expected to accept.
Netanyahu’s response made clear that Israel does not view a diplomatic agreement as a substitute for its own security measures. His remarks indicated that the Israeli government intends to preserve the option of taking whatever action it considers necessary to prevent Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
The competing statements added another obstacle to negotiations already complicated by the Hormuz crisis, sanctions, regional warfare and disagreements over Iran’s nuclear stockpile. While Washington continues pursuing an agreement, Tehran’s military leadership has now publicly described continued nuclear weapons work as essential to the country’s security.
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