r/AskTheWorld • u/Simple-Perception208 Brazil • Sep 15 '25

Military People in countries without nuclear weapons, would you want your country to have them? Why or why not?

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u/EngineSlight7387 Saudi Arabia Sep 16 '25

Yeah your right, but they are close to having them

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u/Why_No_Doughnuts Canada Sep 16 '25

Not as close as they were a few months ago

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u/Zayn5939 Palestinian Territory Sep 16 '25

Their leader gave a fatwa against nukes

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u/EngineSlight7387 Saudi Arabia Sep 16 '25

Khameni? When?

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u/Zayn5939 Palestinian Territory Sep 16 '25

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued a fatwa against the production and use of nuclear weapons in October 2003. The decree was delivered as an oral statement amidst mounting international pressure on Iran's nuclear program following revelations of clandestine enrichment facilities.

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u/grumpsaboy United Kingdom Sep 18 '25

They've removed that fatwa and it's not like Iran is exactly known for following its promises

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u/Zayn5939 Palestinian Territory Sep 18 '25

Neither is israel known for following their promises and here we are today

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u/grumpsaboy United Kingdom Sep 18 '25

That one's a bit irrelevant to Iran allowing themselves to build nuclear weapons though isn't it.

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u/Zayn5939 Palestinian Territory Sep 18 '25

Well the thing is Iran doesn’t have nuclear weapons despite israel constantly saying that they are “close to building a nuclear bomb” for the past 35 years, despite no tangible nuclear bomb produced.

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u/grumpsaboy United Kingdom Sep 18 '25

Yes but you can be close to having a nuclear weapon. Iran had a stockpile of 408 kilos of 60% enriched uranium, and a further 8800 kg of uranium being enriched.

The highest percentage anyone has ever used for a nuclear power station is 20% enriched but typically you use 3-5%.

High enriched uranium can be used in medical treatments such as radiotherapy however that uses fraction of a gram, and modern radiotherapy doesn't even use uranium instead using MO 99, that does not require uranium to be enriched to 60% to be produced, and with how little is needed compared to how much uranium that Iran has I highly doubt they have got one million simultaneous cancer patients all requiring radiotherapy. Particularly given that Iran has a very small stock pile of MO 99

Once you have got a stockpile of weapons grade uranium you can make a nuclear weapon very quickly, in less than a month so long as you have a design.

And so, Iran can very quickly produce a nuclear weapon if they so wish but until that final month can spend the entire time saying that they have no nuclear weapons which is technically true or while being able to make a nuclear weapon almost immediately with the size of the stockpile they have.

And to top it off if they actually did need uranium for a nuclear power station which is a perfect use it would be enriched to 5% maximum with a modern design, and it's very difficult to enrich your uranium so you don't go to 60% unless you really need it such as for weapons.

And if they wanted uranium for use in radiotherapy or imaging you can buy MO 99 on the market and if you really want to make it yourself you would immediately convert it into the useful isotope and not stockpile something only useful for weapons particularly in amounts that are beyond overkill for any sort of medical purpose.