The Guardian view on Israel, the US and Iran: you can’t bomb your way out of nuclear proliferation | Editorial
<p>The age of disarmament is over. But military action only increases the dangers instead of ending the threat</p><p>Eighty years after the US dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and 40 years after the US and Soviet Union pledged to reduce their arsenals, the threat of nuclear war has resurged with a vengeance. The age of disarmament is over, a prominent thinktank <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/17/china-nuclear-warheads-weapons-stockpile">warned</a> this week: “We see a clear trend of growing nuclear arsenals, sharpened nuclear rhetoric and the abandonment of arms control agreements,” said Hans M Kristensen of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.</p><p>The world’s nine nuclear-armed states have amassed the equivalent of <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/interactive/2025/us-russia-nuclear-weapons-proliferation-danger/">145,000 Hiroshima bombs</a>. Israel’s illegal attack upon Iran is purportedly a last-ditch attempt to prevent it joining this club – as Israel <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/17/world/middleeast/israel-nuclear-weapons.html">did long ago</a>, though does not admit it. While Tehran possesses the capacity to develop a nuclear weapon if it chose to, US intelligence <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2025/06/17/politics/israel-iran-nuclear-bomb-us-intelligence-years-away">believes it has not made that decision</a> – and would still need up to three years to build and deploy one. Israel does not appear to be striking Iran because US nuclear diplomacy has failed, but because it fears it might succeed. Many of its targets are unrelated to the nuclear programme, and some even to Iran’s military. Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly invoked regime change: more honestly, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/17/netanyahu-israel-iran-regime-change-destruction">regime collapse</a>.</p><p><em><strong>Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tone/letters"> letters</a> section, please <a href="mailto:[email protected]?body=Please%20include%20your%20name,%20full%20postal%20address%20and%20phone%20number%20with%20your%20letter%20below.%20Letters%20are%20usually%20published%20with%20the%20author%27s%20name%20and%20city/town/village.%20The%20rest%20of%20the%20information%20is%20for%20verification%20only%20and%20to%20contact%20you%20where%20necessary.">click here</a>.</strong></em></p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jun/18/the-guardian-view-on-israel-the-us-and-iran-you-cant-bomb-your-way-out-of-nuclear-proliferation">Continue reading...</a>