Iranian Lawmaker Mahmoud Nabavian has underscored the need for a shift in the country’s nuclear policy to ensure deterrence against enemies, saying Tehran must be equipped with weapons possessed by the US and Israel.

According to The Iran Project, speaking at an open session of the parliament on Monday, the Tehran representative said the enemies of Iran need to realize that the nation’s security is “our red line”.

“The Iranian nation will utilize any weapon that creates deterrence against its enemies,” he said, referring to the United States and the Zionist regime.

“The Holy Quran has commanded us to increase our power as much as possible to frighten our enemies with that power and weapons so that it creates deterrence.”

Based on this divine instruction, he continued, adapting Iran’s nuclear policy in these extraordinary circumstances is a “clear necessity”.

“The Iranian nation must be equipped with all the weapons that its terrorist enemies, America and Israel, possess,” he said.

Nabavian, however, took one step further by saying that according to the command of the Holy Quran, Iran must acquire even more sophisticated weapons than its enemies so as to deter them from attacking the nation.

The remarks come amid heightened tensions between Iran and regional resistance groups on one side and the Israeli regime and the US on the other side.

Over the last several months, Israel has targeted Iran’s diplomatic mission in Syria, assassinated former Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, assassinated Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and a top Iranian general in Beirut, and launched a direct airstrike on three Iranian provinces.

Iran, for its part, has so far carried out two major retaliatory operations against the Tel Aviv regime, asserting that it reserves the right to  respond to the regime’s criminal acts that are in violation of the country’s national security and territorial integrity.