![]() ![]() ![]() The New York Times determined that the documents “confirmed what inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency, in report after report, had suspected: Despite Iranian insistence that its program was for peaceful purposes, the country had worked in the past to systematically assemble everything it needed to produce atomic weapons.”ĭespite claims that Iran’s supreme leader once issued a fatwa against the use of nuclear weapons, there are strong reasons to believe that this fatwa may be apocryphal or non-binding. In January 2018, Israel’s Mossad intelligence service seized over 50,000 pages of documents and 160 compact discs of data from a Tehran warehouse that housed Iran’s clandestine nuclear archive. President Barack Obama commented that the "configuration" of the Fordow facility is "not consistent with a peaceful nuclear program." Three thousand centrifuges are sufficient for producing quantities of highly enriched uranium for nuclear weapons, but not for fuel for nuclear power plants. In 2009, Western intelligence agencies discovered, and Iran admitted to, another secret facility, at Fordow, that is designed for approximately 3,000 centrifuges to enrich uranium. On Novemthe IAEA released a report stating there is "credible" evidence that "Iran has carried out activities relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device." Numerous reports since then have underscored Iran’s continuing refusal to address the IAEA’s evidence, which showed “strong indicators of possible nuclear weapon development.” Since then, the IAEA has repeatedly said that it cannot consider Iran's nuclear program as entirely civilian. In 2002, Iran's covert program was exposed. For 18 years, it was kept secret, even though international assistance would have been available to a civilian program. Iran's nuclear program is clearly intended to develop a nuclear weapons capability. HOW DO WE KNOW IRAN HAS ASPIRED TO DEVELOP AND USE NUCLEAR WEAPONS? ![]() Iran could even potentially share its nuclear technology and know-how with extremist groups hostile to the United States, Israel and the West. Iran is generally considered the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism, through its financial and operational support for groups such as Hezbollah, Hamas, and others. If Tehran were allowed to develop nuclear weapons, the threat it poses would increase dramatically. and allied troops stationed in the Middle East and parts of Europe. Iran already has a conventional weapons capability to hit U.S. Having nuclear weapons would embolden this aggression and would likely result in greater confrontations with the international community. Even as the United States has recently become a net oil exporter, its economy remains heavily dependent on the stability of international oil markets, which still require the continued steady export of oil from the Middle East.Ī nuclear-armed Iran would likely further embolden Iran's aggressive foreign policy, including its deep ongoing involvement in Syria, its attacks against Israel via proxies including Hezbollah, Hamas and other terrorist groups, and its sponsorship of rebel insurgents in Yemen. The US and the international community have a vested interest in maintaining calm in the Middle East. Indeed, Iran's military posture has led to increases in arms purchases by its neighbors, and a nuclear-armed Iran would likely spark a nuclear arms race in the Middle East that would further destabilize this volatile and vital region. Israel is most at risk as Iran's leaders have repeatedly declared that Israel should "be wiped from the map." America's Arab allies, such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, and others are deeply alarmed at Iran's aggressive regional policy and would feel increasingly threatened by a nuclear-armed Iran. WHY IS IRAN'S NUCLEAR WEAPONS PROGRAM A THREAT TO AMERICA AND AMERICAN INTERESTS?įor decades, the United States and the international community have mobilized to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran, believing that nuclear weapons in the hands of the Iranian regime would directly threaten Israel, destabilize the region, and present a security risk to the US, Europe and other allies.Ī nuclear-armed Iran poses a direct threat to America's closest allies in the Middle East. Since then, Iran has announced numerous other accelerations of its nuclear program that specifically exceed the provisions of the Iran nuclear deal and shorten the time it would take to build a nuclear weapon. Days later, Iran proclaimed it had enriched uranium to about 4.5% purity, again breaching prior agreed to levels. On July 1, 2019, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) announced that Iran had exceeded its agreed-to limit on the volume of its stockpile of enriched uranium, putting heightened concerns about an Iranian nuclear weapons program back in the headlines. ![]()
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