Attempt to destroy Iran's nuclear programme could backfire and drive regime towards a bomb, experts warn

"The US-Israeli onslaught against Iran is intended to resolve a 24-year standoff over Tehran's nuclear programme, but it runs the risk of backfiring and driving the regime towards making a secret bomb, proliferation experts have warned. The regime in Tehran has long insisted that the programme is for civilian purposes and it has no intention of making a nuclear weapon."

"Most worryingly for the international community, Iran had by last summer produced a stockpile of just over 440kg of highly enriched uranium (HEU), of 60% purity. In terms of technical difficulty, once at 60%, it is a relatively easy step to reach 90% weapons-grade uranium that can be used to make a compact warhead."

"The bombs had wreaked extensive damage, but deep underground sites, burrowed beneath mountains in two sites in particular, Isfahan and Natanz, could not be destroyed. In response to the attacks, Iran excluded UN inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) from those and other sensitive sites."

A 24-year standoff over Iran's nuclear program escalated following US-Israeli military operations in June aimed at destroying nuclear facilities. Iran maintains its program serves civilian purposes, though undeclared enrichment and plutonium production sites discovered in 2002 fueled international suspicion. The 2015 nuclear deal imposed strict limits and inspections, but Trump's 2018 withdrawal triggered Iran's acceleration of enrichment activities. Iran accumulated over 440kg of 60% enriched uranium, technically close to weapons-grade levels. Military strikes damaged surface facilities but failed to destroy deep underground sites at Isfahan and Natanz. Proliferation experts warn the attacks may backfire by pushing Iran toward secret weapons development, while Iran responded by excluding UN inspectors from sensitive locations.

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