North Korean leader Kim Jong Un stated that the United States’ war with Iran proves that his country made the right decision in maintaining its nuclear weapons.
In a speech to Supreme People’s Assembly of North Koreapublished on Tuesday (24), Kim accused Washington of “state-sponsored acts of terrorism and aggression”, but did not mention Iran by name.
“The current situation clearly proves” that North Korea was justified in rejecting what he described as U.S. pressure and “sweet words” to give up its nuclear arsenal, Kim said. He added that now is “irreversible”.
US President Donald Trump had previously stated that Iran posed an “imminent” threat to the United States, months after declaring that the US had “obliterated” the country’s nuclear capabilities. Trump cited Iran’s prevention of building a nuclear bomb as one of the reasons for launching attacks against the country.
For North Korea’s leadership, the conflict in Iran reinforces the long-held belief that countries without nuclear weapons are exposed to U.S. military power, while those with them can deter it.
The timing of Kim’s speech is significant. Trump recently signaled he was open to resuming talks with Kim, reviving a diplomatic path that collapsed in 2019.
Kim’s latest statements suggest that any future meeting would be very different from past summits, which focused on denuclearization. He has indicated he is willing to interact with Trump again, but only if the US accepts North Korea as a nuclear power and abandons what Pyongyang calls a “hostile policy.”
North Korea is widely believed to have assembled dozens of nuclear warheads and, unlike Iran or Venezuela, the country claims to have operational nuclear weapons and delivery systems capable of reaching anywhere in the continental United States, although they have never been fully tested.
Recently, North Korea displayed a series of high-profile weapons tests, including from a new warship and salvos of what state media described as nuclear-capable rockets.
Speaking to the Workers’ Party Congress last month, Kim pledged to expand his country’s nuclear arsenal, calling it the party’s “firm will” to increase both the number of weapons and the means to deploy them.
Kim also placed his teenage daughter, believed to be named Kim Ju Ae, at the center of these displays, signaling that North Korea’s nuclear program is not just permanent, but generational.
At the same time, Pyongyang is strengthening ties with Moscow. Russian state television aired footage of North Korean troops training near the Ukrainian front, portraying the relationship as a strong anti-US partnership and emphasizing growing military cooperation.
The relationship became more consequential and North Korea’s role in Russia’s war in Ukraine became central to Pyongyang’s propaganda. Kim agreed to supply artillery shells and rockets, and sent thousands of troops to support the .
In return, analysts say Pyongyang received food, fuel and potentially sensitive military technology, as well as battlefield data that helps North Korea perfect its weapons.
This alignment adds yet another layer of complexity for Washington. It suggests that North Korea is not operating in isolation, but as part of a broader network of countries that oppose US influence.
Despite his hardline tone, Kim has not completely closed the door on diplomacy – at the recent Workers’ Party congress, he left a small opening for talks with Washington.
But its conditions are clear: dialogue with the United States may even be possible, but giving up nuclear weapons is not.
