Iran Found Its ‘Nuclear Weapon’. Now The US Has To Adapt– www.ndtv.com

For decades the US and Israel have drawn a bullseye around Iran’s nuclear programme, arguing that allowing Tehran a nuke risks triggering an arms race and destabilising a region that produces a third of the world’s oil and gas, as well as large quantities of fertilisers.

For the US, the risk is also loss of strategic control – since a nuclear-powered Iran rewrites power equations with neighbouring Arab states – over a critical global trade and transit hub.

Air strikes, this year and last, on nuclear and military bases were meant to destroy Iran’s ability to enrich uranium past the current 60 per cent threshold and degrade its missile arsenal.

The strikes have been relatively successful; satellite images showed damage to nuclear and missile capabilities, particularly after the US dropped ‘bunker busters’ on Isfahan, Natanz, and Fordow in June 2025, and on missile depots in March 2026.