Shrouded in secrecy. Never confirmed or denied by the government. This is Israel’s alleged nuclear weapons programme.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long warned that Iran’s nuclear research is secretly looking to develop a nuclear bomb – something Iran has repeatedly denied.

But for decades there have been suspicions that Israel, not Iran, is the first Middle East country to obtain a nuclear weapon.

“It’s very opaque, there’s very little detailed information about it,” says Professor Nick Ritchie, an expert on international security and nuclear proliferation at the University of York.

But he adds: “There’s no debating whether Israel has nuclear weapons and a nuclear weapons programme. Everybody knows it does.”

When did Israel supposedly get nuclear weapons?

It’s believed Israel began building a stockpile of nuclear weapons in the early 1960s, according to a research document for the UK parliament.

“Israel developed nuclear weapons because of fear of encirclement and attack by the Arab states, potentially supported by the Soviet Union, that opposed its existence,” Prof Ritchie tells Sky News.

“There was a sense of acute threat to the existence of the Jewish state after the Holocaust. Back then it was not the regional power that it is now.”

In a declassified memo to President Richard Nixon in 1969, US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger discussed the recent purchase by Israel of American Phantom fighter aircraft – which were capable of carrying nuclear weapons.

He told the president that Israel had committed “not to be the first to introduce nuclear weapons” to the Middle East.

Kissinger added: “But it was plain from the discussion that they interpreted that to mean they could possess nuclear weapons as long as they did not test, deploy, or make them public.”

Whistleblower describes working at Israeli nuclear reactor

In the late 1980s, an Israeli former nuclear technician revealed information about his work at Israel’s Dimona reactor to a British newspaper, which led foreign experts to conclude that Israel had produced enough material for up to 200 nuclear warheads.

Mordechai Vanunu was later kidnapped by Mossad and brought back to Israel, where he was sentenced to 18 years in prison, the UK parliament document said.

When asked on CNN in 2011 whether his country has nuclear weapons, Mr Netanyahu responded: “Well, we have a longstanding policy that we won’t be the first to introduce nuclear weapons into the Middle East, and that hasn’t changed.”

Prof Ritchie says: “Senior Israeli officials, including prime ministers such as Ehud Barak, have acknowledged that Israel has a nuclear weapons programme, more often when they have retired.”

While it has repeatedly criticised Iran for what it claims is a pursuit of nuclear weapons, Israel itself is not signed up to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which commits countries that don’t have nuclear arms not to build or obtain them.

Read more:
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What nuclear weapons might Israel have?

Given Israel’s policy of ambiguity in relation to its alleged nuclear weapons programme, it’s hard to precisely estimate how many nuclear warheads it may possess – and what type.

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), an independent organisation that provides analysis about conflict, says Israel likely has 90 warheads and they are made from plutonium.

Prof Ritchie says it is difficult to be certain but it is believed Israel has fission-based nuclear weapons – like the kind dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the US.

Whether they have thermonuclear fusion weapons – more powerful bombs like those in the arsenals of the US, Russia and the UK – is “difficult to say with certainty”.

“But of course Israel is a very geographically small state,” Prof Ritchie says, adding that in the event of an existential attack on the country, any use of its nuclear weapons against the armed forces of attackers in the region could result in Israel facing “extensive fallout” from the blasts.

How would Israel launch any potential nuclear attack?

There is the question of how Israel would deliver any nuclear strike.

The UK parliament document says: “Based on unconfirmed reports, Israel could be in possession of the nuclear triad, making it capable of delivering a nuclear capability via land, air and/or sea.”

The IDF operates several planes that could be capable of launching nuclear weapons, including the American-made F-16 and F-35 fighter jets.

Around 30 of Israel’s nuclear warheads are estimated to be gravity bombs (unguided munitions dropped from aircraft) for delivery by fighter jets, SIPRI has said.

It also reportedly has the ground-launched Jericho ballistic missile family, reportedly with ranges that could exceed 5,500km (3,400 miles), according to the UK parliament document.

It’s thought that up to 50 nuclear warheads are assigned for land-based missile delivery, SIPRI said.

The Israeli government has never confirmed that it possesses Jericho missiles.

Finally, Israel operates five Dolphin-class submarines which may also be capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

“Given that Israel does not officially acknowledge its apparent possession of nuclear weapons, the circumstances under which it would use them are highly unclear,” SIPRI said.

Debate over nuclear weapons

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Discussion of Israel’s alleged nuclear weapons programme raises questions about which countries – if any – should possess them and how this is enforced.

“The argument that nuclear weapons are acceptable for Israel but not for other states in the region is widely viewed as Western hypocrisy that is difficult for a number of countries to accept,” says Prof Ritchie.

“If it’s not acceptable for Iran to have nuclear weapons, why is it acceptable for Israel to have them? This is why many countries in the region, like Egypt, have pushed for the negotiation of a treaty to ban all weapons of mass destruction in the region, covering chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.”

Sky News has approached the Israeli government for comment.

There is much that is still not known about the US strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Reports are coming in about which sites were hit and what military elements were involved, as President Donald Trump hails the attack on social media.

Here’s what we know so far.

Follow latest: US bombers strike three Iranian nuclear sites

Which sites were hit?

America appears to have hit the three key locations in Iran’s nuclear programme.

They include Isfahan, the location of a significant research base, as well as uranium enrichment facilities at Natanz and Fordow.

Natanz was believed to have been previously damaged in Israeli strikes after bombs disrupted power to the centrifuge hall, possibly destroying the machines indirectly.

However the facility at Fordow, which is buried around 80 metres below a mountain, had previously escaped major damage.

Details about the damage in the US strikes is not yet known, although Mr Trump said the three sites had been “obliterated”.

Read more:
Fordow: What we know about Iran’s secretive ‘nuclear mountain’

What weapons were used in the attacks?

The White House and Pentagon did not immediately elaborate on the operation, but a US official said B-2 heavy bombers were involved.

Fox News host Sean Hannity said he had spoken with the president and that six bunker buster bombs were used on the Fordow facility.

Bunker buster bombs are designed to explode twice. Once to breach the ground surface and again once the bomb has burrowed down to a certain depth.

Israel has some in its arsenal but does not have the much more powerful GBU-57, which can only be launched from the B-2 bomber and was believed to be the only bomb capable of breaching Fordow.

Hannity said 30 Tomahawk missiles fired by US submarines 400 miles away struck the Iranian nuclear sites of Natanz and Isfahan.

The US has carried out a “very successful attack” on three nuclear sites on Iran, President Donald Trump has said.

The strikes, which the US leader announced on social media, reportedly include a hit on the heavily-protected Fordow enrichment plant which is buried deep under a mountain.

The other sites hit were at Natanz and Isfahan. It brings the US into direct involvement in the war between Israel and Iran.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed the “bold decision” by Mr Trump, saying it would “change history”.

Iran has repeatedly denied that it is seeking a nuclear weapon and the head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog said in June that it has no proof of a “systematic effort to move into a nuclear weapon”.

Follow latest: US bombers strike three Iranian nuclear sites

Addressing the nation in the hours after the strikes, Mr Trump said that Iran must now make peace or “we will
go after” other targets in Iran.

Commenting on the operation, he said that the three Iranian sites had been “obliterated”.

“There will be either peace or there will be tragedy for Iran far greater than we have witnessed over the last eight
days,” he said.

In a posting on Truth Social earlier, Mr Trump said, “All planes are safely on their way home” and he congratulated “our great American Warriors”. He added: “Fordow is gone.”

He also threatened further strikes on Iran unless it doesn’t “stop immediately”, adding: “Now is the time for peace.”

It is not yet clear if the UK was directly involved in the attack.

Read more:
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Fordow: What we know about Iran’s secretive ‘nuclear mountain’

Among the sites hit was Fordow, a secretive nuclear facility buried around 80 metres below a mountain and one of two key uranium enrichment plants in Iran.

“A full payload of BOMBS was dropped on the primary site, Fordow,” Mr Trump said. “Fordow is gone.”

There had been a lot of discussion in recent days about possible American involvement in the Iran-Israel conflict, and much centred around the US possibly being best placed to destroy Fordow.

Meanwhile, Natanz and Isfahan were the other two sites hit in the US attack.

Natanz is the other major uranium enrichment plant in Iran and was believed to have possibly already suffered extensive damage in Israel’s strikes earlier this week.

Isfahan features a large nuclear technology centre and enriched uranium is also stored there, diplomats say.

US media reported that six ‘bunker buster’ bombs were used to strike Fordow.

Mr Trump said no further strikes were planned and that he hoped diplomacy would now take over.

It’s not yet known what Iran’s response will be – particularly as the government was already struggling to repel Israel.

However a commentator on Iranian state TV said every US citizen or military in the region was now a legitimate target.