Iran’s former deputy parliament speaker on Monday dismissed his past remarks about pursuing a nuclear bomb as a personal opinion, after U.S. President Donald Trump shared a video of the comments and state media criticized him as “inconsiderate.”
On Sunday, Trump shared a video on his Truth Social platform showing Ali Motahari saying in a 2022 interview that Tehran’s initial goal in pursuing nuclear activities was to build a bomb.
“When we first entered nuclear activities, our real goal was to build a bomb. No point denying it… the whole system, everyone who started this. We had started and we wanted to go all the way. If we could keep it secret and test the bomb, it would be over,” Motahari said in the widely shared video interview in April 2022.
On Monday, Motahari responded to Trump’s post, saying he had held no official role in parliament or Iran’s nuclear decision-making team at the time.
“Trump has posted my interview as if it reflects the official decision of the Islamic Republic to build a nuclear bomb. It shows how empty-handed he is when he relies on the personal opinion of an ordinary individual, not an official report,” Motahari said.
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei also weighed in, accusing Trump of ignoring US intelligence assessments that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and instead relying on “the personal analysis of an Iranian citizen from 2022.”
In March, US director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard told a congressional hearing that Iran was not building nuclear weapons but discourse in Tehran urging the acquisition of a bomb was emboldening advocates for such a move in decision-making circles.
Iran has long denied seeking nuclear weapons, citing a religious edict by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei banning their use, and says its nuclear activities are entirely peaceful.
Motahari's resurfaced comments, however, sparked backlash inside Iran, with IRGC-affiliated Tasnim news agency publishing a commentary that accused the former Iranian official of handing ammunition to Israel and the West.
Tasnim said Motahari's 2022 remarks, that Iran would have built a bomb if secrecy could have been maintained, “sound more like news than analysis” and could be as destructive “as the missiles of the Zionist regime.”
The outlet also stressed that political figures in senior institutions carry greater weight than ordinary analysts and must be more considerate, warning their words can reverberate domestically and regionally.
Tasnim also criticized Mohammad Sadr, a Khamenei-appointed member of Iran’s Expediency Council, who said on Sunday the assassination of Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi was the work of Israel.
Raisi was killed along with Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and other officials in May 2024 when their helicopter went down in mountainous terrain near the border with Azerbaijan. Iranian authorities have consistently said poor weather caused the crash and denied any suggestion of foul play.
