Iranian Supreme Leader Urges For Faster Progress in Nuclear Tech as Tensions With U.S. Remain High

Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei is urging for faster technological progress, including in the nuclear area, as tensions with the U.S. remains high and speculation mounts about whether he will openly direct the country to develop an atomic bomb.

Fars news agency, closely linked with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), claimed that Khamenei claimed that the "experience of the two recent wars has demonstrated to everyone that this new scientific surge must be deep and rapid."

The reported remarks come days after an Iranian lawmaker appeared to suggest that Khamenei could be more open to pursuing a nuclear weapon than his father, Ali Khamenei.

"From Mojtaba Khamenei's conduct, my understanding is that his fatwa will be different," Ahmad Naderi said, in reference to the doctrine from Ali Khamenei claiming Iran would not seek a nuclear weapon due to religious motives.

Elsewhere, Naderi expressed his own support for pursuing such a bomb, calling it the ultimate military deterrence.

Other reports have detailed that Mojtaba Khamenei is more open to developing a nuclear weapon than his late father, but other top officials repeatedly claimed Tehran does not seek it.

Earlier this month, Vice President JD Vance addressed the contrasting remarks, saying that if Iran wants to "show a commitment to not building a nuclear weapon, they would do something meaningful on their ​enrichment capacity."

"If you don't want a nuclear weapon, then why ​do you need 60% enriched fuel? And if you want to show commitment to not building a nuclear weapon, don't build highly enriched ⁠fuel. That's a very basic threshold issue," he added.

An unnamed senior officials told Reuters shortly after that the country will "never" give up the right to enrich uranium in exchange for a deal with the United States.

Tensions remain high in the meantime. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushed President Donald Trump to launch strikes against Iran before the countries' elections, but he has chosen to delay any action for now, according to another report.

"Netanyahu really wanted and tried to convince Trump for a joint attack in Iran before the elections, and Trump did not give a green light," an Israeli source told CNN.

Trump has not made reference to the alleged requests, but did say on Sunday that he is near deciding whether to make a deal with Tehran or "finish it off." "Do I finish it off, which would be very easy to do, or do I make a deal? It's getting to be decision time," he told Fox News.

CNN also detailed that the U.S. has already amassed enough forces in the region to launch major military operations against Tehran within 96 hours of getting the green light.