Amid war on Iran, US lawmakers demand transparency on Israel’s nuclear arsenal

In a rare move, US lawmakers have pressed the Trump administration to end its official silence on Israel’s nuclear arsenal.

In a letter sent Tuesday to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, 30 lawmakers urged the Trump administration to abandon its longstanding policy of ambiguity regarding Israel’s nuclear weapons program.

The letter comes amid the ongoing US-Israeli war on Iran.

The Trump administration has claimed that the objective of the war is to stop "Tehran’s nuclear program."

Democratic lawmakers in the US House of Representatives wrote that Washington cannot develop a coherent nonproliferation policy for West Asia while maintaining official silence over Israeli nuclear weapons.

The lawmakers, led by Congressman Joaquin Castro, noted that Washington was launching a war on Iran side by side with the Israeli regime, "whose potential nuclear weapons program the United States government officially refuses to acknowledge."

“The risks of miscalculation, escalation, and nuclear use in this environment are not theoretical,” they said, adding that the request, made amid the ongoing US-Israeli war on Iran, would help fulfil Congress’s constitutional responsibility to be fully informed on the issue.

The lawmakers demanded information regarding Israeli warheads and launch systems, enrichment capabilities, and what Washington has been told about Israeli red lines.

House Democrats insisted that without transparency regarding Israel’s nuclear capabilities, lawmakers cannot develop a “coherent nonproliferation policy for the Middle East.”

The Democrats called for an end to Washington’s “official ambiguity” surrounding Israel’s nuclear weapons program and demanded that the Trump administration publicly acknowledge Israel’s undeclared nuclear arsenal.

For decades, both the Israeli regime and the United States have maintained ambiguity regarding the occupying regime’s nuclear program.

The policy of ambiguity “makes coherent nonproliferation policy in the Middle East impossible, for Iran, for Saudi Arabia, and for every other state in the region making decisions based on their perceptions of the capabilities of their neighbors,” the Democrats wrote.

They also questioned why Congress seeks to prevent Iran from pursuing a peaceful nuclear program while giving Israel a free pass to develop its nuclear arsenal.

Tehran has long cited Israeli possession of nuclear weapons as the primary obstacle to peace in the region. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said that the Tel Aviv regime’s nuclear arsenal prevents the realisation of a nuclear weapons-free West Asia.

Iran seeking nukes ‘big lie’ that never changes reality: UN mission

Iran’s UN mission in Vienna says that claims about the country seeking a nuclear weapon will never change realities on the ground.

The Israeli regime, widely believed to possess a large undeclared nuclear arsenal, launched its nuclear program in 1952 with technological support from France and the United States.

According to various military think tanks, the regime developed its first nuclear weapons around 1967–1968. Production reportedly accelerated rapidly afterwards, without significant international outcry.

In a landmark report in 1986, Israeli technician Mordechai Vanunu exposed the regime’s clandestine nuclear program after revealing details from the Dimona nuclear facility. In 1988, he was convicted of treason and sentenced to 18 years in prison.

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