The Defense Ministry’s political adviser Amos Gilead said Wednesday in a lecture to a Washington audience: “If Khamenei were to ask Ali Akbar Salehi, head of the Iranian Atomic Commission: ‘Can we develop a nuclear weapon whenever we want? The answer would be ‘yes.”” In 2003, when they feared an American attack, they suspended the program, but then reactivated it and also built hundreds of missiles.
Now, said Gilead, Tehran is afraid again - this time of tougher sanctions which present a different kind of existential threat. And so, he said, “Tehran has once again made a strategic decision to delay the nuclear project, hoping to stop the momentum of the sanctions while preserving the ability to develop a nuclear weapon in due time.”