Israel probably created its first nuclear bomb more than half a century ago, but still does not admit this fact.
While Israel is actively seeking to stop Iran's nuclear development, the world's attention is often drawn to the Jewish state's hidden nuclear program. Jerusalem has never officially confirmed that it has nuclear weapons, but its capabilities in this area are well known.
CNN writes about this.
The History of Israel's Nuclear Secret
Israel began researching nuclear weapons even before its founding in 1948. It successfully began producing nuclear weapons.
Despite government denials, there is a belief that Israel conducted secret atmospheric nuclear tests in 1979. Experts also point out that the country's nuclear program has been expanding for many years.
The size of the nuclear arsenal and its modernization
Israel possesses about 90 nuclear warheads and likely has enough nuclear material to produce up to 300 nuclear warheads, according to the Washington-based Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI).
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) says Israel is continuing to modernize its arsenal, testing a missile propulsion system in 2024 that could be linked to the Jericho family of ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads. SIPRI also notes that Israel appears to be upgrading its plutonium production reactor at Dimona.
Netanyahu's position and international treaties
Asked by CNN in May 2018 whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was prepared to admit his country's nuclear program, he replied: “We always said we would not be the first to use [nuclear weapons – ed.], so we did not use them.”
The possession of nuclear weapons and the continuation of development in this area are also supported by the fact that Israel refused to sign the 1970 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and opposes diplomatic efforts to create a zone free of weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East.
At the same time, Israel signed and ratified the 1963 Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which obliges the parties not to detonate nuclear devices in the atmosphere or oceans.
Recall that the IAEA suddenly announced that Iran was not trying to create a nuclear weapon. Rafael Grossi noted that previously the only concern was the fact that Iran is the only country in the world enriching uranium to 60%.
