Larijani explicitly said Iran wants Japan option on its nuclear program

Not sure how I missed this, but Ali Larijani, speaker of Iran's parliament told his counterparts in Japan's parliament that Iran seeks a nuclear profile comparable to Japan's.

Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani has stated that Iran will follow the Japanese model in its nuclear program. Japan has nuclear technology but does not possess any nuclear weapons and Iran will follow the same path in its nuclear program, Larijani said in a meeting with Japanese House of Councilors President Satsuki Eda in Tokyo.

Japan does not have a weapon, but could make them, and has said so openly.

"If Japan desires, it can possess thousands of nuclear warheads. Japan has enough plutonium in use at its nuclear power plants for three to four thousand (of them)," Ozawa said. "If that should happen, we wouldn't lose (to China) in terms of military strength. What would (China) do then?"

Ariel Ilan Roth of the US Council on Foreign Relations has explained why an Iranian nuclear capability - the Iranian attainment of the type of capabilities Japan has - though legal, is intolerable to Israel:

Israel fears that Iran’s nuclear ambitions could undermine its qualitative superiority of arms and its consistent ability to inflict disproportionate casualties on adversaries -- the cornerstones of Israel’s defense strategy. Although some idealists dream of reconciliation in the Middle East based on a genuine and mutual recognition of all parties’ legitimate rights, most Israelis believe the key to enduring peace in the Middle East is convincing Israel’s adversaries that ejecting Israel through force is an impossible task not worth pursuing.

Essential to inducing that sense of despair is Israel’s ability to continuously trounce its enemies on the battlefield and suffer far fewer losses than it inflicts. The Iranian nuclear program threatens Israel’s ability to do this in two ways. First, an Iranian nuclear capability would likely force Israel to restrain itself due to fears that Iran’s nuclear weapons could provide an implied security guarantee to other anti-Zionist forces -- the sort of guarantee that would prevent Israel from causing the massive losses it has in the past, while giving anti-Israel forces the confidence to keep up the fight.
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The even greater threat posed by Iran’s nuclear program is its potential to unleash a cascade of proliferation in the Middle East, beginning with Egypt and Saudi Arabia. For both of these states, the idea that Jews and Persians could have a monopoly on nuclear weapons in a region demographically and culturally dominated by Arabs is shameful.

Iran with a Japan option, while legal under the NPT, poses a threat to Israel. The US is expending a tremendous amount of diplomatic resources, probably more than any other issue, in what looks like a failing effort to prevent Iran from exercising its right to attain this status. This is the first time I've read an Iranian figure expressly saying that this status is Iran's goal.