LinkedIn on Wednesday, March 25, 2026
Israel is the only country in the Middle East that has, but denies having, nuclear weapons. Ninety such weapons is the current estimate that it can deliver via planes and missiles.
The problem is that Israel doesn’t trust Iran nor does the government of Iran trust Israel.
Understandably, the current theocracy that runs Iran has no intention, no matter what the agreement it may sign, of abandoning its development and eventual manufacture of nuclear weapons. I believe the operative phrase is “mutually assured destruction” or “MAD” for short. If Iran has its own nuclear weapons, Israel is unlikely to use theirs against Iran for fear of retaliation, and vice versa.
As the only country in history to have ever used nuclear weapons and given our huge stockpile of nuclear bombs and warheads, nobody should appreciate Iran’s concerns more than the United States. Apparently, it’s okay for us to have the means of wiping out life on the entire planet, but the nuclear club of which we are the big dog is closed to new members, particularly those known for their support of anti-American terrorism. The exclusivity of this club may be understandable, but doesn’t make any sense. No one should have nuclear weapons. There’s way too much that can go wrong. If you take the time to think about it, the only safe solution is simultaneous universal nuclear disarmament. Everybody needs to get out of the pool all at once before some idiot tinkles in it.
Here’s what I propose. The United States makes Israel give up its nuclear weapons in good faith support for the creation of a Nuclear Weapons Free Zone (NWFZ) in the Middle East. Likewise, all other Middle Eastern countries, including Iran of course, will abandon their own efforts to develop nuclear weapons.
The United States and perhaps other nuclear nations, China and Russia included if they’re interested, will agree to enforce the rules of this agreement and guarantee security for the participating Middle East countries. One of the rules will be zero support for terrorist organizations. …Who knows, after we set up this NWFZ, we who manage the zone may even begin to discuss nuclear disarmament among ourselves. The ultimate objective is that no group or country can be allowed to have nuclear weapons. Period. That will take a while but, in the meantime, the situation in the Middle East will have been resolved.
Iran will agree because the program I’m proposing eliminates its principal concern, that Israel cannot be allowed to have its own nuclear weapons unless Iran has a comparable arsenal of its own. The establishment of a NWFZ takes that dilemma off the table. The nuclear weapons disarmament of Israel is the key.
Will Israel agree? Not unless we grab Prime Minister Netanyahu by the throat, bang his head against the Resolute Desk – figuratively speaking of course – and remind him, in no uncertain terms, what the loss of our support for Israel due to his lack of cooperation will mean for his county and for his career in particular.
Will we agree? Regrettably, we will not and, unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know why. “Donald Trump.” Maybe, under the leadership of a Democratic Congress next January and a Democratic President two years later? I would hope so.
In any case, nuclear weapons, since we developed and used two of ours eighty years ago against Japan, have always been a catastrophe of biblical proportions waiting to happen. There are way too many of them out there, subject to variable degrees of security, administrative controls and politics in a wide variety of countries. It’s only a matter of time before someone, somewhere puts one or more of them to use. In fact, I’m surprised it hasn’t already happened – that North Korea, for example, hasn’t given or sold one to some anti-American terrorist group.
Do any of you out there not agree that it is high time we do something about these weapons before it’s too late?
Unfortunately, I believe that our species seldom does the right and the smart thing in the absence of a major crisis slapping it on the face. Maybe just this once we could get ahead of the problem.
-Les Cohen
