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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Julian Borger

Attacking Iran’s nuclear programme could drive it towards a bomb, experts warn

A 2020 satellite image of Natanz uranium enrichment facilities in Iran
A satellite image taken in 2020 of the Natanz uranium enrichment facilities, 300km south of Tehran. In June 2025, the US and Israel launched strikes on the site. Photograph: Maxar Technologies Handout/EPA

The US-Israeli onslaught against Iran is intended to resolve a 24-year standoff over Tehran’s nuclear programme, but it runs the risk of backfiring and driving the regime towards making a secret bomb, proliferation experts have warned.

The regime in Tehran has long insisted that the programme is for civilian purposes and it has no intention of making a nuclear weapon. However, since two undeclared sites, for uranium enrichment and heavy water plutonium production, were discovered in 2002, the programme has been treated with intense suspicion.

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