Can Iran’s Nuclear Program Really Be Stopped? |
An Iranian flag sits atop a nuclear hazard symbol on a map of the Middle East. Despite repeated US and Israeli strikes against Iran’s nuclear program, it is difficult to imagine the world can prevent Iran from nuclearizing forever. (Shutterstock/Rokas Tenys)
Can Iran’s Nuclear Program Really Be Stopped?
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The mechanics of constructing a nuclear weapon are no longer a closely-guarded secret, and if a mid-sized country is hell-bent on building one, it is very difficult to stop it.
Today, nine countries possess nuclear weapons: the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel (privately), and most recently North Korea.
Even if other nations wanted to join this exclusive club, they likely wouldn’t be allowed in. The United States has exerted considerable diplomatic leverage to encourage other potential nuclear nations—both allies such as South Korea and Taiwan and adversaries like Libya—to abandon their nuclear programs. When diplomacy fails, other methods are used. Israel has repeatedly bombed its neighbors—Iraq in 1981, Syria in 2007—to stop their nascent efforts to acquire nuclear weapons. The United States invaded Iraq in 2003 for the same reason, although much of the information suggesting Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein had been pursuing the weapons turned out to be fabricated. And both last year and this year, the United States and Israel conducted a series of strikes on Iran to ensure it wouldn’t join the very exclusive club of nuclear powers.
There are legitimate reasons to fear a nation such as Iran having nuclear weapons. However, a valid question remains whether Tehran’s nuclear ambitions can even be stopped. Nuclear weapons were first built more than 80 years ago, in 1945. The process of building them is well-understood by now, and the technology required is widely available. Barring outside interference of the sort recently used against Iran, any nation on Earth would likely be able to build them, given enough time and effort.
Wait, Didn’t the US and Israel “Obliterate” Iran’s Nuclear Program?
Destroying Iran’s nuclear program remains a key objective for President Donald Trump. Last June, he claimed the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program was “obliterated” in the Operation Midnight Hammer airstrikes that hit several of Iran’s nuclear facilities.
“Monumental Damage was done to all nuclear sites in Iran, as shown by satellite images. Obliteration is an accurate term!” Trump wrote on Truth Social after the........