Donald Trump has repeated in recent days, often in capital letters on his Truth Social account, that Iran cannot be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon.
His view is shared by Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, who has said that Israel’s surprise attack on Iran, which has killed hundreds since 13 June, is a pre-emptive measure to stop Iran from creating a nuclear weapon.
Iran denies it is trying to produce nuclear arms, and that its nuclear programme is for civilian purposes.
It is a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which says that states that do not already have nuclear weapons cannot obtain them.
The NPT gives the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) the power to monitor and verify that non-nuclear states are complying.
Last week, the watchdog said that Iran had breached its obligations – an action Tehran strongly condemned, and claimed provided a pretext for Israel’s surprise assault.
But unlike Iran, Israel has not signed the NPT, and is one of only five countries not to be party to the 1968 treaty. This means that the IAEA has no way to monitor or verify Israel’s nuclear arsenal.
Little is known about Israel’s nuclear programme, which it has a policy of neither confirming nor denying.
However, declassified documents, investigative research and whistleblower revelations from the 1980s have pointed to what it has.
What nuclear weapons does Israel possess?
Israel is one of nine countries that are known to have nuclear weapons, along with the US, Russia, the UK, France, China, India, Pakistan and North Korea.
It is believed to possess around 90 nuclear warheads and enough plutonium to produce around 200 more nuclear weapons, according to the Nuclear Threat Initiative.
Israel has between 750 and 1,110kg of plutonium, which would be enough to build 187 to 277 nuclear weapons.
Hellbound and Down 