DOHA, March 18. /TASS/. Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has yet to announce his position on nuclear weapons, the country’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said.

"Iran’s nuclear doctrine has been a peaceful one, and we have always sought to exercise our rights to benefit from peaceful nuclear energy," he told Al Jazeera, commenting on the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s fatwa, or religious decree, banning nuclear weapons. "A fatwa, as you know, depends on the person who issues it. I cannot yet judge what the new leader’s legal or political stance on this matter will be. My understanding is that it should not differ greatly from our previous policy, but we must wait until we become aware of his views," Araghchi added.

Iran has repeatedly stressed that it does not pursue nuclear weapons. Ali Khamenei’s fatwa banning the development of nuclear weapons has been in effect since 2003.

The United States and Israel launched a military operation against Iran on February 28. Major Iranian cities, including Tehran, were struck. The White House justified the attack by citing alleged missile and nuclear threats from Iran. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced a retaliatory operation, targeting sites in Israel. US military bases in Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE were also hit. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and some other key Iranian leaders were killed in the joint US-Israeli attack.