--- title: "Trump’s Attack May Instead Spur Iran to Speedrun a Nuclear Weapon It Wasn’t Building Previously" description: "Trump approving for Iran to be bombed may spur the country to finally build an arsenal of nuclear weapons as a deterrence." date: "2025-06-23" modified: "2025-06-23" authors: - name: "Sharon Adarlo" job_title: "Correspondent" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/sadarlo" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/trump-iran-nuclear-weapon" categories: - "Future Society" tags: - "donald trump" - "iran" - "nuclear weapons" - "the digest" --- # Trump’s Attack May Instead Spur Iran to Speedrun a Nuclear Weapon It Wasn’t Building Previously ![Trump approving for Iran to be bombed may spur the country to finally build an arsenal of nuclear weapons as a deterrence.]() *\Image: Carlos Barria / Pool via Getty / Futurism\* ## Bomb Squad President Donald Trump is trying to derail [Iran's nuclear weapons ambitions]() by [bombing its known nuclear research facilities]() — but it turns out that's easier said than done. US officials have trumpeted that the [recent strikes obliterated Iran's nuclear enrichment sites](), but [satellite images have cast doubt on that claim](). And in any case, Trump's bombing campaign will most likely spur the country to abandon the [Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty]() and [kickstart a program to rapidly develop nuclear arms]() as a deterrence, even if that program wasn't in gear previously — a grimly ironic outcome of strikes meant to prevent exactly that. "The \[Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty\] is not able to protect us," Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said at a Turkey conference in the wake of the strikes, [as reported by *CNN*](). There could even be international ramifications, if other countries see what Iran is going through as well and come to believe that a nuclear weapon would safeguard them against outside attempts at regime change. In any case, Iranian officials said they had evacuated the sites — Fordow, Esfahan and Natanz — that were bombed by America, pointing to the possibility that parts of the nuclear program have survived and have been moved to a secret location. ## Strike That The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), a United Nations body, is [clamoring for peace, diplomacy and access to sites]() in order to assess damages and account for any stockpiles of uranium that could be used for nuclear weapons. But events have rapidly barreled forward so fast that a visit from a bunch of United Nations eggheads seems pretty quaint at the moment. On Monday afternoon, Iran [launched missiles at the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar](), the largest American military base in the Middle East — though all the missiles were intercepted, heading off a worse crisis. The bombing salvo comes on the heels of an Israeli attack on an [Iranian government prison](), among [other facilities](). "I call on all parties to exercise the utmost restraint, de-escalate, and return to the negotiating table," [French President Emmanuel Macron posted on X](). "This spiral of chaos must end." With international tempers running hot, good luck to that. **More on nuclear weapons:** [*Russian Nuclear Military Satellite Spinning Out of Control*]()