TEHRAN — Iran's nuclear doctrine is in need of a serious shift, and swift action must be taken toward the production of nuclear arms, the country's hard-liners have recently argued, as Tehran is in the midst of flaring escalation with its sworn enemy, Israel.

On Wednesday, 39 lawmakers sent a letter to the country's top security body, the Supreme National Security Council, demanding a review of the Islamic Republic's defense doctrine. 

"These days, no international organization or Western state is capable of curbing the Zionists, as the fake [Israeli] regime continues to commit any crime," said hard-line cleric Hassan Ali Akhlaghi Amiri, one of the parliamentarians signing the letter, in an interview with the ISNA news agency. 

At formal negotiating tables, Iranian diplomats have for years reiterated that the Islamic Republic's nuclear program has been designed solely for peaceful purposes. They have cited a decree issued by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in 2003, when he declared the production and use of weapons of mass destruction, including atomic bombs, religiously forbidden.