In July, the US director of national intelligence delivered a report to Congress, which warned that Iran had “undertaken activities that better position it to produce a nuclear device, if it chooses to do so”.
The same report also notably omitted a sentence used as standard by US intelligence in recent years, which says that Iran “isn’t currently undertaking the key nuclear weapons development activities necessary to produce a testable nuclear device”.
Iran has repeatedly denied having a nuclear weapons programme, though supreme leader Ali Khamenei has said that world leaders “wouldn’t be able to stop us”.
“Iran is not after nuclear weapons, period,” said Abbas Araghchi, the Iranian foreign minister, last week.
Israel has been locked in a multi-front war since Hamas – backed by Iran – launched the October 7 attacks on southern Israel in 2023.
Hezbollah – also supported by the Iranian regime – then escalated attacks on Israel from Lebanon the following day.
Iranian-backed militias have also frequently fired on Israel from Yemen and Iraq.
Iran and Israel have also attacked each other directly. Israel’s October 25 attack on Iran was in retaliation for Tehran’s mass missile barrage of the Jewish state on October 1.
When Donald Trump returns to the White House in January, he is expected to take a more hardline stance on Iran than President Joe Biden.
During his first term, Mr Trump pursued a “maximum pressure” sanctions policy on Iran, intended to force Tehran to stop funding its regional allies and abandon its hopes of a nuclear weapon,
Israel signed the US-brokered Abraham Accords during Mr Trump’s first term, which normalised its ties with some Muslim countries, such as United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
Israel said it hopes to forge a similar deal with Saudi Arabia, although the kingdom has said it will not normalise ties with Israel without the establishment of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Axios said the Iranian mission to the UN declined to comment on its report.
