A leading Muslim cleric said that adherents to the faith across the globe have a religious duty to build nuclear weapons to combat Israelis and Jews, according to a translation of his recent remarks broadcast on a television station controlled by the terrorist group Hamas.

Muhammad Al-Hassan Ould Al-Dadou Al-Shanqit, a Mauritanian cleric, was interviewed on the Hamas' Al-Aqsa TV about efforts by Islamic countries to obtain nuclear weapons. While extremist regimes such as the Islamic Republic in Iran have claimed there are religious bans on the building of nuclear weapons, Al-Shanqit maintained it is "a duty" of Arabs to build these weapons of mass destruction.

"Since this kind of weapon has been used in the past, and since there is now a threat that it will be used against the Muslims, they have a duty to strive to obtain this weapon," Al-Shanqit was quoted as saying in a translation of his remarks performed by the media watchdog site Middle East Media Research Institute, or MEMRI.

"Possession of nuclear weapons is the only way to deter the enemies. Look at Pakistan," he said. "When it obtained the nuclear bomb, a lot of the harassment by its neighbors stopped. These neighbors used to harass [Pakistan] because they had the nuclear bomb. The rush to normalize relations with the Zionists, which we are witnessing today, and many of the defeats that Arabs have suffered were caused by … Well, obviously it is caused by the lack of faith in Allah, but in large part, it is because the Zionists possess a weapon that the Arabs do not."

"The Muslims must strive to obtain this deterring weapon, but they must not use it unless it is used against them," he was quoted as saying.

Meanwhile, Iranian officials have announced in recent days that they have again started to enrich uranium, the key component in a nuclear weapon, to amounts prohibited by the landmark nuclear deal. Iran has said that it will no longer abide by these restrictions due to President Donald Trump's efforts to sanction the regime.