Trump Says His Goal Is to Stop Iran Getting a Nuclear Bomb. But the Result Might Be Lots More Nukes Across the Globe

 https://time.com/article/2026/03/27/us-iran-war-nuclear-weapons-proliferation-deterrent-trump/

Of all the reasons proffered for the Iran war—and there’ve been a few—probably the easiest for Americans to get behind is that striking the regime was necessary to permanently derail its nuclear weapons program.

After all, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) last May revealed Iran had stockpiled 408.6 kg of 60%-enriched uranium, which with further refinement could potentially fuel nine warheads. The nation’s inventory of some 2,500 ballistic missiles—the largest in the Gulf—and support for terrorist proxies across the region added to the security migraine. Iran “can’t have nuclear weapons,” President Donald Trump said in February. “It’s very simple. You can’t have peace in the Middle East if they have a nuclear weapon.”

But while the strikes against Iran’s nuclear sites and scientists will no doubt slow Iran’s atomic ambitions in the near-term, analysts say the regime—providing it survives, which all signs suggest it will—will now be even more set on acquiring a nuclear weapon.

Indeed, given Iran’s ballistic missile infrastructure has been badly degraded by U.S. and Israeli attacks, a nuclear bomb may prove “a faster route to restore deterrence for a regime that is now more radical and has been attacked twice in the midst of negotiations,” says Jennifer Kavanagh, director of military analysis for the Washington-based think tank Defense Priorities.

But it’s not just Iranian nuclear weapons that the U.S. and world must worry about going forward. On Tuesday, North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un left little doubt he was referencing Iran when he said the “present situation clearly proves” his country was correct to hang onto its nuclear arsenal, which he termed “irreversible,” while accusing Washington of “state sponsored terrorism and aggression.”