According to Iranian MP Ahmad Naderi, the relationship between the US and North Korea shows that possessing a nuclear arsenal has brought security to Pyongyang. This statement comes as tensions rise over the Iran nuclear weapons issue.
US President Donald Trump would not be able to threaten to attack Iran if Tehran had nuclear weapons, Ahmad Naderi, a member of the Iranian Parliament Presidium, said on March 31. Naderi’s statement follows a recent warning from Trump regarding the Iran nuclear deal, with the US threatening unprecedented action against Tehran.
A day earlier, Mr. Trump had warned of an unprecedented attack on Iran if it did not accept a nuclear deal. “It will be a bombing like they have never seen before,” Mr. Trump told NBC News on March 30.
Congressman Naderi believes that Iran could follow North Korea’s nuclear weapons lead to strengthen its security against this threat, he wrote on X.
“Watching Trump’s behavior and statements during his first term with North Korea shows that possessing nuclear weapons has brought security to this country,” he wrote.
He asserted that Mr. Trump would not make similar threats to Iran if Tehran also had nuclear weapons. “For many years, many intellectuals and supporters of the country and the Islamic Revolution have called for testing and openly possessing nuclear bombs. If we also possessed nuclear weapons, Mr. Trump would not threaten to drop bombs,” Mr. Naderi emphasized.
Despite warning of “fire and fury like the world has never seen” against North Korea in 2017 over Pyongyang’s nuclear program, Trump turned to diplomacy with North Korea in his first term. After several meetings, denuclearization talks collapsed over disagreements over sanctions relief and North Korea’s nuclear program. Since then, Pyongyang has continued to test missiles, including systems capable of delivering nuclear warheads.
Tehran’s nuclear program has long been a flashpoint in US-Iran relations. In February, a month into his second term, Mr. Trump announced he would resume a strategy of “maximum pressure” on Iran.
Following recent statements by the US President, Tehran has refused to negotiate directly with Washington, citing Mr. Trump’s unilateral withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in 2018. The international deal was designed to limit Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of sanctions.
Earlier, on March 31, Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warned that Tehran would retaliate if the US attacked. Despite this, Iran nuclear weapons development remains controversial within the country, as Khamenei has issued a decree banning the production of nuclear weapons, claiming it is against Islamic principles.
Iran has always maintained that its nuclear program is “for peaceful purposes only.” However, since 2022, Iran has claimed that it has the technology to build a nuclear bomb but has no plans to do so. Late last year, Khamenei’s adviser, Kamal Kharrazi, said Tehran had the capacity to produce nuclear weapons and was ready to change its policy of using nuclear weapons if faced with an existential threat.
