The US has struck three nuclear sites in Iran and Iran says it reserves all options to respond.

According to Analysts, US attacks are likely to hasten Iran’s exit from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Nicholas Miller, Associate Professor of government at Dartmouth University in the US, opined that the attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities could push Tehran to abandon the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and “advance its nuclear work without the interference of inspectors.”

Also, Mark Fitzpatrick, an associate fellow for Strategy, Technology and Arms Control, asserted that now that Iran has been bombed by the US, he expects Tehran to abandon the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and seek an atomic weapon.

“Iran has been on the verge, you could say for several months, even years, they’ve had this nuclear capability, but they haven’t done it. Now there’s little reason for them not to do it, that they’ve been bombed.

“So I fully expect Iran to pull out of the NPT, expel the inspectors, launch on a nuclear weapons programme with now all the resources of the country devoted to it.”
Mark Fitzpatrick

Fitzpatrick added that Iran could get its nuclear programme back on track within a year.

He pointed out that Israel assassinated nine of Iran’s top nuclear scientists, but Iran has “enough others who could be brought up to speed and could carry the programme forward.”

He added that Iran has a critical advantage in this programme, because they have produced over 400 kilograms [880 lbs] or 60 percent highly-enriched uranium, very close to the 90 percent needed for nuclear weapons.

“That 60 percent highly-enriched uranium was in cylinders which Iran surely removed before the attack and hid somewhere. If they still have these cylinders of 60 percent enriched uranium, they don’t have too much further to go to move it up to 90.

“They’ve got to build centrifuges. They’ve got to assemble the centrifuges. But I think they’ll be able to do that within a year or so.”
Mark Fitzpatrick

Iran, a signatory to the NPT, has insisted that its nuclear enrichment activity is only for peaceful purposes, adding that it is not building a nuclear weapon.

Meanwhile, Israel remains the only country in the Middle East believed to have nuclear weapons – despite never officially acknowledging its arsenal or being a signatory to the NPT.

Iran Downplays US Attacks

Following the US’s attacks on Iran, President Donald Trump told the world that “Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated.”

Iranian officials, however, have attempted to downplay the significance of the hits.

Speaking on state TV, Hassan Abedini, the Deputy Political Director of Iran’s state broadcaster, said that the three nuclear sites had been evacuated and that they “didn’t suffer a major blow because the materials had already been taken out.”

Also, Trita Parsi, the Executive Vice President of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, noted that it is likely Iran had taken precautionary measures ahead of the US attacks. “It appears that they already had gotten an advanced warning,” he opined.

“They understood that he [Trump] was buying time while moving military assets in order to actually strike. So, I think for some time they have moved those assets – where they are is unclear at this point.”
Trita Parsi

Paris stated that Iran’s most valuable nuclear asset is its stockpile of enriched uranium.“As long as they continue to have that, they still actually have very much a nuclear programme that still could be weaponised,” he added.

However, the impact of the strikes on Iran’s overall nuclear programme is yet unknown.