The US’ relationship with North Korea shows that having such an arsenal has bought Pyongyang security, according to Ahmad Naderi
US President Donald Trump would not dare threaten to bomb Iran if Tehran had nuclear weapons, Ahmad Naderi, a member of the Presidium of the Iranian Parliament, said on Monday.
A day earlier, the US president threatened Iran with unprecedented bombing if it doesn’t accept a nuclear deal.
“It will be bombing the likes of which they have never seen before,” he told NBC News on Sunday.
Iran could follow the example of North Korea to bolster its security in the face of the threat, Naderi suggested in a post on X.
“Observing Trump’s behavior and speech during his first term with North Korea shows that having a nuclear weapon has brought security to Korea,” he said.
Trump wouldn’t make such threats if Tehran were similarly armed, Naderi asserted.
“For a long time, many elites and sympathizers of the country and the [Islamic] Revolution have been calling for the bomb to be tested and announced. If we were also armed with nuclear weapons, Trump would not dare to threaten bombing,” he said.
Despite threatening North Korea with “fire and fury like the world has never seen” over Pyongyang’s nuclear program in 2017, Trump instead went on to engage the country diplomatically during his first presidential term.
After several meetings, denuclearization talks later collapsed over disagreements on sanctions relief and North Korea’s nuclear program. Pyongyang has since continued to conduct missile tests, including of its nuclear delivery systems.
Tehran’s nuclear program has also been a bone of contention in US-Iranian relations for years.
In February, a month after the start of his second presidential term, Trump announced a renewed push for “maximum pressure” on Iran.
After the US president’s recent escalation in rhetoric, Tehran rejected direct talks with Washington, citing a loss of trust following Trump’s unilateral withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in 2018. The international agreement was envisioned to scale down the Iranian nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.
Earlier on Monday, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned that Tehran would retaliate against any US attack.
