The nation’s nuclear program had somehow evaded decades of Western scrutiny and ignored non-proliferation treaties to produce a viable bomb. Striking Iran’s nuclear facilities has been floated as one potential, if extreme, response. “The US actually co-operated directly with the Iranians in the ’50s,” says Benjamin Zala, a nuclear weapons researcher at ANU. Generally, the threat of nuclear weapons in the hands of neighbours and the US is thought to be the motivation. Pakistan has nuclear weapons and it is broadly understood that Israel does too, although it had never declared so.

Source: Libya Today October 10, 2024 06:20 UTC