Iran could go ahead and build nuclear weapons after losses among its Middle East allies left it 'weakened', White House warns
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Iran could make moves towards becoming a nuclear power after it was severely weakened by wars in the Middle East, the White House has warned. Jake Sullivan, Joe Biden's national security advisor, said he has personally warned Donald Trump, the president-elect, that he needs to be 'vigilant' for the threat of possible nuclear escalation in the Middle East, which has increasingly suffered under growing wars.
![[A view from the exhibition as Iran exhibits its missiles, satellite-carrying rockets and air defence systems, including the missiles and drones used in the Israeli attack, at the Aviation and Space Park Permanent Exhibition Centre of the Revolutionary Guards Army in capital Tehran, Iran on October 17, 2024]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/23/08/93418991-14220687-image-a-47_1734943981846.jpg)
Iran's key allies, Hamas, Hezbollah and the former Syrian government run by dictator Bashar al-Assad, have all either been severely damaged or completely destroyed over the past year, which Sullivan warned may push the nation, headed by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to go nuclear.
'It's a risk we are trying to be vigilant about now. It's a risk that I'm personally briefing the incoming team on,' Sullivan said, adding that he had also consulted with US ally Israel. The incoming Trump administration appears to be taking the threat seriously, with the Wall Street Journal reporting earlier this month that he and his team have been seriously considering undertaking preventative strikes against Iran.
He reportedly told Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he is incredibly concerned that Iran may go nuclear while he is in office, and was hatching plans to prevent this. But the strikes would be a major break in the longstanding policy of dealing with Iran using sanctions and diplomacy.
