Tehran’s Interim Friday Prayer Leader Calls for Change in Iran’s Nuclear Doctrine

October 30, 2026
IranWire

Mohammad-Javad Haj-Ali-Akbari, Tehran’s interim Friday prayer leader, called for a revision of the Islamic Republic’s nuclear doctrine and a move toward acquiring nuclear weapons during his sermon on Friday, October 30, 2026. He claimed that the issue has now become a “national demand.”

The interim Friday prayer leader stated that, according to recent opinion polls, “70 percent of the public supports changing the nuclear doctrine,” though he did not cite the source of these surveys.

Haj-Ali-Akbari urged experts to draft proposals in cooperation with relevant institutions and submit them to Mojtaba Khamenei for a final decision.

According to him, dispatching mediators and sending letters from the United States will not reduce the risk of a resumption of war. He emphasized that Iran’s seven conditions for de-escalation and reopening the Strait of Hormuz must be implemented.

Meanwhile, Alireza Salimi, a member of the Iranian Parliament’s Presidium, wrote on X (formerly Twitter): “Revising defensive policy and changing the nuclear doctrine today enjoys both elite consensus and public demand. Parliament stands ready to introduce a triple-urgency bill in this domain at a moment’s notice.”

In a separate post, the lawmaker claimed: “Withdrawing from the NPT is a definitive right of the Islamic Republic under its various articles, and a draft bill for withdrawal has been prepared by several representatives and is on Parliament’s desk.

Salimi added that strategies must change and that the era of overbearing mandates and royal decrees has come to an end.

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