What Are Iran's Nuclear Capabilities? How Dangerous Are They?
Is Iran a Full-fledged Nuclear State? Iran is a nuclear threshold state. It has in its possession enough enriched uranium to make several atomic bombs. The US intelligence has warned that if Iran wants to build a nuclear bomb, it can do it at some point in the future. Iran has always maintained that its nuclear programme was aimed at peaceful uses of nuclear energy. The world, especially the US-led western countries, however, generally disagrees and tends to portend all kinds of worst-case scenarios about Iran becoming a full-fledged nuclear power. According to a 2024 US Congressional Research Service report, Iran had stopped its nuclear weapons programme and did not have all the technologies necessary to develop nuclear weapons. Iran’s uranium enrichment programme has been running since 2000. These facilities, in theory, could generate highly enriched uranium used in nuclear weapons. In nuclear reactors used for generating energy, low-enriched uranium is used, and I...