October 24, 2026
A senior Iranian lawmaker called on Thursday for the Islamic Republic to authorize the use of nuclear weapons if the United States attacks Iran again, the latest and most explicit in a growing chorus of nuclear talk from inside the regime. Mohammad-Saleh Jokar, chairman of the Iranian parliament’s Internal Affairs Committee, made the demand as Washington and Jerusalem weigh a renewed military campaign against Tehran after the US midterm elections.
“I ask the Islamic Republic’s authorities, in defense of the country and for the purpose of deterrence, to permit the use of deterrent weapons, including nuclear weapons, in the event of a US attack on Iran,” Jokar said, according to Iran International. He also urged Tehran to suspend its cooperation under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) if American forces strike, and warned that any country allowing US forces to use its territory or airspace for an attack would face a harsh response and pay a heavy price.
Iran officially denies seeking nuclear weapons, and Jokar did not claim the regime possesses one. His call to “permit the use” of such weapons nonetheless marks a sharp escalation in the public rhetoric of Iran’s leadership.
Jokar’s statement caps a week of threats from Tehran. On Sunday, after President Donald Trump endorsed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and declared that “we will soon finish the job” in Iran, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi taunted Trump on social media, warning that Iran has unfinished jobs of its own. He accused the Israeli prime minister of manipulating Washington. “Netanyahu is driving America into another war to stay out of jail,” Araghchi wrote.
Later that day, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) spokesman Hossein Mohabbi threatened that any attack on Iran’s energy infrastructure would turn Israel into scorched earth forever and drive its Jewish population into the Sinai Desert. X removed the post for violating its rules. Iran’s new defense minister, Mehrdad Ahlaghki, warned that if Trump drops a single bomb on Iran, American troops in the region would be carried out on stretchers.
The threats come as the United States and Israel reportedly prepare to resume strikes. The New York Times reported this week that the two countries have drafted plans for a short, intensive round of attacks after the November 3 midterm elections that could hit Iranian energy sites, nuclear facilities, and missile and drone arsenals.
Jokar is far from alone. The Financial Times reported on October 19 that calls to quit the NPT and build a bomb are growing among Iran’s hardliners. One regime official told the paper that since Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in the opening strikes of the war in February, support inside the regime for acquiring nuclear weapons has soared from near zero to more than 50 percent. A spokesman for parliament’s national security committee said last month that a new supreme leader could issue a new ruling on Khamenei’s 2003 religious edict prohibiting nuclear weapons.
Iran’s leaders are now openly discussing nuclear weapons while their missiles keep landing on American bases and Arab cities, and the IRGC is threatening to send the Jewish people back into the desert.