Israel Seen As Worlds Sixth Nuclear Power

Space War ^ | May 10, 2006 | Staff Writers

[Ben Mugged]

Israel, which Tuesday warned Iran against any future attack, is regarded as the sixth country in the world to acquire nuclear weapons -- a title its government has never confirmed or denied. Despite its ambiguous position, the Jewish state is widely regarded as owning at least 200 atomic warheads, making it the only nuclear power in the Middle East. British defence specialist Jane's puts the figure at "between 200 and 300".

This estimate "is based on the production capacity of the country's reactors," said John Eldridge, editor in chief of Jane's Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Defence.

The International Institute of Strategic Studies, for its part, estimates the number of warheads as being "up to 200".

The Nuclear Threat Initiative, a US advocacy group co-created by Ted Turner, the founder of CNN and a former senator, believes Israel's nuclear arsenal "is comparable in quality and quantity to that of France and the United Kingdom."

An unknown number of ground-to-ground missiles, comprising short range Jericho 1 and medium range Jericho 2 missiles, forms Israel's strategic force.

The country also acquired three diesel-powered, Dolphin-class submarines -- a non-nuclear variety -- at the end of the 1990s. Each vessel has the capacity to launch six torpedoes. They can also spend up to a month underwater.

"There is no evidence that their weapons are anything other than conventional, but the nuclear option has been considered since 2003," Eldridge told AFP.

In a hardening attitude towards Tehran, Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres warned Tuesday Iran risks its own destruction if it tries to destroy Israel.

[Ben Mugged]

Iran attacks Israel and Israel turns Tehran into a glass parking lot. I guess they weren't kidding when they told Tehran they could "protect ourselves".

[ExpatGator]

Good. If any country is in need of nukes, it's Israel.

[peyton randolph]

Wouldn't put it past Israel's new PM to push for unilateral disarmament. The guy is worse than a joke.

[Alberta's Child]

I gotta be honest here. What's fair is fair . . . if countries like Israel, India, Pakistan, etc. can be nuclear powers, then there's no objective reason why a country like Iran cannot be one.

[ncountylee]

Hey mad Mo...how could these "dogs and monkeys" develop nuclear weapons?

[CarrotAndStick]

Israel is not a signatory to the NPT like Iran. Neither are India and Pakistan.


Israel, technically won't violate any treaty if it has nukes.


IIRC, that is.

[CarrotAndStick]

Like I said, Iran is TREATY-BOUND, unlike India, Pakistan, and I daresay Israel, to NOT have a weapons programme.

[FreedomNeocon]

The moral relevance you seem completely oblivious to is stupefying.

[bassmaner]

I hope you just merely forgot the sarcasm tag ...

[Always Right]

I gotta be honest here. What's fair is fair . . . if countries like Israel, India, Pakistan, etc. can be nuclear powers, then there's no objective reason why a country like Iran cannot be one.

It is like allowing adults to carry guns verses a 6-year old carry a gun. Iran has made their intentions clear of its desire to destroy Israel and has never been a stable country.

[Mat_Helm]

I suppose it would be okay for Iran to have nuclear weapons and at the same time want to wipe Alberta off the face of the map and have the contries leader with the trigger say so repeatedly? That also would be okay with you?

[Uncle Miltie]

"The Nuclear Threat Initiative, a US advocacy group co-created by Ted Turner, the founder of CNN and a former senator"

Ted Turner is not a former Senator to my knowledge or according to his biography here:

http://www.bizography.org/biographies/ted-turner.html

[Uncle Miltie]

Aha! Reading this again, I see the author was just stupidly ambiguous in his writing. There is apparently some unnamed former Senator with whom Turner founded this anti-western "think tank."

[Alberta's Child]

For one thing, Iran could hardly be considered "treaty-bound" if the treaty was signed before the government was overthrown in 1979 -- any more than the people of Alabama or Georgia would be bound by a treaty signed by the Conferedate States of America in 1860. (I have no idea when Iran ratified the NPT.)

In addition, Article X of the NPT does allow a nation to formally leave the treaty when extraordinary events move it to do so. Like it or not, the invasion and occupation of neighboring Afghanistan and Iraq by an existing nuclear power (the United States) is probably a perfect example of an "extraordinary" case that would allow a nation to leave the treaty.

[Alberta's Child]

I hate to break this to you, but Israel has never really been a stable country, either -- at least not in the last 40 years. No other country with that kind of political arrangement would even be recognized under U.S. law.

[Alberta's Child]

Actually, a nuclear Alberta (note that I did not say, "a nuclear Canada") would be perfectly fine with me -- to help prevent such a bizarre scenario from unfolding.

[Always Right]

I hate to break this to you, but Israel has never really been a stable country, either -- at least not in the last 40 years. No other country with that kind of political arrangement would even be recognized under U.S. law.

Isreal is a functioning Democracy. Of course we would recognize it.

[agere_contra]

then there's no objective reason why a country like Iran cannot be one.

When they stop living a genocidal fantasy, we can consider it