Turin, 24 July (LaPresse) – US intelligence agencies believe that Iran’s new Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, is far more keen than his father and predecessor on pursuing the development of a nuclear weapon. This is reported by the New York Times, citing officials familiar with the matter. Ayatollah Khamenei’s father, who was killed at the start of the war in an Israeli attack carried out with the help of US intelligence services, had vowed to abandon the development of a nuclear weapon. Although US officials have long maintained that Iran wanted to be capable of building a nuclear weapon, many believed that Ali Khamenei’s hesitation was genuine. His successor has never publicly called for Iran to build a nuclear weapon. However, US intelligence agencies believe that Mojtaba Khamenei and the hardline government that emerged after the US and Israel killed many of Iran’s previous leaders harbour ambitions to develop advanced nuclear weapons.
Iran, US intelligence: ‘Mojtaba Khamenei is more interested in developing nuclear weapons than his father’
Turin, 24 July (LaPresse) – US intelligence agencies believe that Iran’s new Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, is far more keen than his father and predecessor on pursuing the development of a nuclear weapon. This is reported by the New York Times, citing officials familiar with the matter. Ayatollah Khamenei’s father, who was killed at the start of the war in an Israeli attack carried out with the help of US intelligence services, had vowed to abandon the development of a nuclear weapon. Although US officials have long maintained that Iran wanted to be capable of building a nuclear weapon, many believed that Ali Khamenei’s hesitation was genuine. His successor has never publicly called for Iran to build a nuclear weapon. However, US intelligence agencies believe that Mojtaba Khamenei and the hardline government that emerged after the US and Israel killed many of Iran’s previous leaders harbour ambitions to develop advanced nuclear weapons.
