Iran's nuclear technology has not deterred aggression - it provided a pretext for it, M. Javad Zarif has written in Foreign Affairs. The admission from Tehran's former foreign minister and vice president marks a striking departure from the narrative that advancing nuclear capabilities would shield Iran from military attack.
The argument, reported by "Hvylya" with reference to Foreign Affairs, comes as weeks of U.S. and Israeli bombing have killed thousands of Iranians and damaged hundreds of buildings without toppling the government or destroying the nuclear program. Zarif noted that the strikes have instead animated debate inside Iran about whether the country should abandon the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and change its nonproliferation doctrine altogether.
But Zarif argued that going nuclear would be the wrong lesson to draw. Israel's illegal nuclear arsenal has not protected Israelis from daily missile and drone barrages, he pointed out. "This failure is all the more reason to be skeptical that a nuclear program will safeguard Iran's security, no matter how advanced it grows," he wrote. The most effective component of Iran's defense, he said, has been its resilient people - a point confirmed by both civilian and military officials.
The war has also proved that the United States is incapable of destroying Iran's nuclear or missile programs even when operating alongside Israel with financial and logistical support from Persian Gulf partners. "These programs are simply too entrenched and too dispersed to be bombed away," Zarif wrote. Rather than pursue a weapon, he proposed that Tehran voluntarily cap its nuclear ambitions and accept permanent IAEA monitoring in exchange for full sanctions relief - a deal he framed as pragmatic, not capitulatory, because the war has proved that neither side can bomb the other into submission.
Also read: Why a new nuclear arms framework would need India, Pakistan, and Israel at the negotiating table.