Iran’s new leader is more open to pursuing a nuclear weapon, US intelligence says

WASHINGTON – US intelligence agencies believe that Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, is far more interested than his father and predecessor in pursuing a nuclear weapon, according to officials briefed on the assessments.

Khamenei’s father, who was killed at the start of the war in an Israeli attack aided by US intelligence, had sworn off developing a nuclear weapon. While US officials long asserted that Iran wanted to be capable of building a nuclear weapon, many believed the elder Khamenei’s hesitancy was genuine.

His successor has never publicly called for Iran to build a nuclear weapon. But US intelligence agencies believe that Mojtaba Khamenei and the harder-line government that emerged after the United States and Israel killed many of Iran’s previous leaders have ambitions to develop advanced nuclear weaponry.

The current government has already worked to assert greater control over the Strait of Hormuz and proved a difficult negotiating partner.

If the US-Israeli war has made Tehran more, rather than less, likely to pursue a nuclear weapon, it would amount to one more grave consequence of the killing of the supreme leader, and the steps towards regime change the Trump administration initially pursued.

US officials caution that most of the intelligence on Mojtaba Khamenei’s views comes from before the war.

Having been badly injured in the first part of the war, Khamenei has since limited his communications and public appearances because of his injuries, and because he does not want to be targeted in an air strike, the officials added.

The officials assess that he remains in charge of the government but does not have the absolute authority and influence of his father, who ruled for more than 36 years.

The assessment comes as US President Donald Trump is weighing whether to intensify the military campaign against Iran. A determination that the supreme leader is potentially open to pursuing a bomb would provide additional justification for an escalation.

While US officials insist Tehran has not made any moves to restart its nuclear programme, Iran has taken some steps to preserve its nuclear assets after US strikes on key facilities in 2025, or during pauses in fighting during the current war.

Iran has moved at least some centrifuges, according to US officials, to a heavily fortified underground complex in central Iran that the United States refers to as Pickaxe Mountain. NYTIMES

• This article originally appeared in The New York Times.