US spies fear Trump’s brutal war with Iran may have driven its new leader CLOSER to a thermonuclear warhead
Iran’s new Supreme Leader is far more willing to pursue a nuclear bomb than his late father, US intelligence agencies believe.
It is a dramatic shift that sharpens the stakes as President Trump weighs fresh and bigger military action.
Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei took power after his father, longtime leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed earlier in the conflict in an Israeli strike reportedly backed by US intelligence.
For years American officials judged Ali Khamenei’s religious ban on nuclear arms to be genuine, even as Tehran quietly expanded its nuclear infrastructure and preserved the option to build a weapon if it chose.
His son, officials now believe, is taking a harder line. Mojtaba has never publicly called for a bomb, but intelligence assessments reportedly show he has fewer ideological qualms about weaponization and may back a more advanced arsenal, according to The New York Times.
The shift could bolster the case for further strikes. Officials say the new intelligence would strengthen Trump’s hand if Washington concludes Tehran is edging toward a political decision to build a weapon.
For now, Iran has not restarted enrichment or resumed weapons work since last year’s US airstrikes, which inflicted major damage. Instead, Tehran appears focused on salvaging what remains, above all the heavily fortified underground complex known as Pickaxe Mountain.
Although Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei has never publicly called for Iran to build a bomb, intelligence assessments reportedly indicate he has fewer ideological objections to weaponization than his father and may support developing a more advanced nuclear arsenal
Although the late Ali Khamenei issued a religious fatwa banning the use of nuclear weapons, the decree did not prevent Iran from developing much of the technology needed to produce one
Trump had declared the 2025 strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities had obliterated its nuclear program. However, early intelligence assessments reportedly found the damage, while significant, had likely delayed the program by only several months rather than destroying it completely
US officials say Iran has already moved at least some centrifuges into the facility, which burrows deep beneath a mountain in central Iran and is thought to lie beyond the reach of America’s most powerful conventional bunker-busters.
Israeli intelligence reportedly tracked the equipment, though Washington believes the goal is to shield critical assets, not restart enrichment. Tehran has poured extra ground forces around the site, amid fears the US could attempt a commando raid rather than rely on airstrikes alone.
That fear is grounded in what happened in June 2025, when Trump ordered strikes on Iran’s three most important nuclear sites. B-2 stealth bombers dropped massive bunker-busters on Fordo and Natanz, while Tomahawk missiles hit Isfahan. Trump declared Iran’s program obliterated.
His own spy agencies reportedly disagreed, finding the damage had set the program back only months, not destroyed it.
The delay stretched longer only because Iran chose not to rebuild or restart enrichment elsewhere. Crucially, its stockpile of highly enriched uranium survived intact, leaving much of the raw material for a bomb within reach should Tehran decide to move.
Intelligence on Mojtaba Khamenei’s intentions comes with heavy caveats. Much of it predates the current fighting.
The new Supreme Leader was reportedly wounded early in the war and has all but vanished from public view, nursing his injuries and wary of becoming the next airstrike target.
Officials also doubt he yet commands the authority his father wielded over three decades.
What they do believe is that his nuclear appetite runs further than his father’s. Where earlier intelligence suggested Iran had explored a crude, World War II-style device, Mojtaba is thought to favour sophisticated warheads small enough to sit atop long-range missiles.
Ali Khamenei’s fatwa banning nuclear weapons never stopped Iran mastering the technology to build one, and hardliners long argued Tehran should be able to assemble a bomb at speed if it had to.
Officials now warn the war may have handed those hawks their strongest argument yet: that only a credible nuclear deterrent can deter future strikes or another push to topple the regime.
If they are right, a campaign meant to end Iran’s nuclear ambitions may have done the opposite, sharpening its appetite for the very weapon Washington has spent decades trying to deny it.
