Tehran, March 18 -- Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said the country's overall stance on nuclear weapons is unlikely to change significantly despite the leadership transition following the killing of Ayatollah Khamenei.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, Araghchi pointed to a religious decree issued by former supreme leader Ali Khamenei in the early 2000s, which prohibited the development of weapons of mass destruction.
Araghchi's comments come at a particularly delicate moment, signalling policy stability to the outside world, while leaving open how the new leadership may interpret doctrine at a time of heightened military pressure.
However, he stressed that such rulings are tied to the individual cleric who issues them, and said it was...