American intelligence agencies believe Iran’s new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, is far more interested in pursuing a nuclear weapon than his father and predecessor, according to officials briefed on the assessments.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed at the start of the war in an Israeli attack aided by US intelligence, had ruled out developing a nuclear weapon.
For years, American officials maintained that while Iran wanted the capability to build a nuclear weapon, many believed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s reluctance to take that final step was genuine.
His successor has never publicly called for Iran to develop a nuclear weapon.
However, US intelligence agencies now believe Mojtaba Khamenei and the harder-line government that emerged after the United States and Israel killed many of Iran’s previous leaders are determined to develop advanced nuclear weaponry.
Faridah Abdulkadiri
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