The attacks by the United States and Israel against Iran were carried out in order to prevent the Ayatollah regime from obtaining a nuclear weapon, although the first information points out that the threat of the Iranian nuclear program (which Tehran claims to be peaceful) continues.
Today, nine countries have nuclear weapons: Russia, the United States, China, France, the United Kingdom, Pakistan, India, Israel and North Korea. Another six other nuclear weapons from other countries: Belarus (Russia), Turkey, Italy, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands (from the United States).
With conflicts around the world, the number of countries intended to develop their own nuclear weapons or at least have on their territory warheads of other nations, as an element of dissuasion against geopolitical rivals. Check out some of them below:
Poland
Prime Minister Donald Tusk said this year that the country is thinking of developing nuclear weapons.
“We must be aware that Poland should seek the most modern capabilities, also related to nuclear weapons and modern unconventional weapons. This is a race for security, not by war,” said Tusk.
At the same time, Polish President Andrzej Duda has argued that American nuclear warheads are allocated on Polish soil.
“NATO’s borders were displaced to the east in 1999, so 26 years later, there should also be a change in NATO infrastructure to the east,” Duda said in an interview with Financial Times.
“I don’t think the time has come, but it would be safer if weapons [nucleares] They were already here, ”he said.
Japan
Nuclear weapons are a taboo in Japan, the only country in history that has been attacking with this type of weaponry.
However, in an article published by the Hudson Institute last year, Japanese Prime Minister Shigero Ishiba said the country needs to start thinking about options in the area, given the threat represented by the partnership between Russia, North Korea and China, which could “stop working” to United States extended in the region. ”
The Japanese prime minister defended in the text the idea of an Asian version of NATO, which should “specifically consider the sharing of nuclear weapons or the introduction of nuclear weapons [próprias] in the region ”.
South Korea
The newly elected President Lee Jae-Myung of the Downtown Democratic Korea Party (DPK) said in a debate at the end of May to oppose South Korea to have its own nuclear weapons or to shelter weapons of this type of the United States, as it did until 1991.
“If tactical nuclear weapons return to the Korean peninsula, how can we claim the denuclearization of North Korea? Is denuclearization a fundamental national policy?” Asked Lee.
However, research shows that more than 70% of South Korea’s population is in favor of the country to have nuclear weapons, and the conservative party of Popular Power (PPP), the other large South Korean party, created in the National Assembly (the local parliament) the so-called Mugunghwa Forum, which aims to raise support for the development of such armaments.
That is, if there is a new change in political winds in South Korea, the country can accelerate its search for nuclear weapons, especially to determine the threats of the communist neighbor to the north.
Sweden
Last year, shortly after Sweden entered NATO, Prime Minister ULF Kristersson said it was the hypothesis of allowing the country to host nuclear warheads from other members of the Western Military Alliance-but only in case of conflict.
“If there is a war with us in our territory, to which Sweden is dragged after an attack by others, the situation would be completely different. So the whole NATO would benefit from the nuclear umbrella that should exist in democracies as countries like Russia have nuclear weapons,” Kristersson told P1 radio station.
Türkiye
According to data from the International Campaign to abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), Turkey already houses 20 US nuclear warheads, which bothers NATO allies, as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is close to Russia and China.
In 2019, Erdogan criticized the concept that “countries like the United States, Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom may have nuclear weapons, while others, including Turkey, no.”
A recent report from the American Think Tank Tank Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) highlighted some evidence that Ankara may be looking for its own nuclear weapons, such as partnerships with Russia to build nuclear reactors and a “suspicious agreement” to acquire uranium ore for enrichment.
Myanmar
Mianmar’s Civil Ambassador in the United Nations, U Kyaw Moe Tun, who has been opposed to the Military Junta that governs the Asian country since 2021, denounced in an event on Nuclear Non -Proliferation in New York in May that the Burmese regime is looking for nuclear weapons.
According to information from the independent newspaper The Irrawaddy, he said that a partnership with Russia to build a nuclear plant in Naipidau can be a façade for a weapon development program.
“We have serious concerns that the board can try to acquire nuclear technology for military applications under the pretext of peaceful purposes,” said the ambassador.
“The military junta instrumentalizes humanitarian aid for the earthquake victims and will also instrumentalize nuclear technology,” he said, in reference to the earthquake in Myanmar in March that killed more than 5,000 people in the country.
