How Israel's secret nuclear arsenal comes under spotlight amid attacks on Iran
SIPRI estimates that Israel has 30 aircraft, 50 land-based missiles and 10 sea-based missiles, and these warheads are capable of being delivered anywhere within a maximum radius of 4,450 km
Israel, which does not publicly acknowledge possessing nuclear weapons, is now believed to be modernising its nuclear arsenal, says Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
The report, published yesterday (16 June), reveals that Israel is estimated to hold at least 90 nuclear warheads.
The SIPRI report comes amid the country's escalating war with its regional arch-rival Iran, which kicked off last Friday (13 June) after Israel targeted three key nuclear enrichment sites in Iran – Natanz, Isfahan and Fordow.
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Israel attacked Iran in what it called a preemptive strike to prevent Tehran from developing nuclear weapons. Since then, the two Middle Eastern rivals have exchanged blows, resulting in over hundreds of deaths, including civilians on both sides.
As per SIPRI estimates, Israel has 30 aircraft, 50 land-based missiles and 10 sea-based missiles, and these warheads are capable of being delivered anywhere within a maximum radius of 4,450 km.
In parallel, Israel also appears to be upgrading its plutonium production reactor site at Dimona.
While Israel continues to expand its undeclared nuclear programme, criticism has emerged over the international community's muted response. The Western countries have expressed their support for Israel in the conflict.
"Iran is the principal source of regional instability and terror," a statement by the Group of Seven nations (G7) stated yesterday, adding, "clear that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon."
Following Israel's Friday attack, US President Donald Trump told Reuters in a phone interview that he and his team had known the attacks were coming.
"We knew everything, and I tried to save Iran humiliation and death. I tried to save them very hard because I would have loved to have seen a deal worked out," Trump said.
Arab News pointed out the stark contrast with Iran, stating, "While Iran is a signatory to the international nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Israel is not, which begs the question: while Israel is wreaking havoc in Iran, with the declared aim of crippling a nuclear development programme, which the International Atomic Energy Authority says is about energy, not weaponry, why is the international community not questioning Israel's?"
In March, at the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) board of governors meeting in Vienna, Qatar's ambassador to Austria, Jassim Yacoub Al-Hammadi, called for "intensified international efforts" to bring all Israeli nuclear facilities "under the safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency" and urged Israel to join the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons as a non-nuclear state, Arab News reported.
Despite this appeal, Israel refuses to sign up to the NPT or cooperate with the IAEA.
Since 1981, Israel has also been in breach of UN Resolution 487, which was adopted following Israel's attack on Iraq's nuclear research facility – a move condemned by the UN Security Council as a "clear violation of the Charter of the UN and the norms of international conduct."
The resolution, which remains in force, calls on Israel "urgently to place its nuclear facilities under the safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency," a demand Israel has never fulfilled.
Arab News reported that the ambiguity surrounding Israel's nuclear stance extends to its only official position, repeated since the 1960s, that it "won't be the first to introduce nuclear weapons into the Middle East."
According to SIPRI, in 2024, Israel conducted a test of a missile propulsion system that could be related to its Jericho family of nuclear-capable ballistic missiles, while continuing to maintain its long-standing policy of nuclear ambiguity.
Global nuclear arsenals continue to grow, upgrade
Nearly all of the nine nuclear-armed states – the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel – continued intensive nuclear modernisation programmes in 2024, upgrading existing weapons and adding newer versions, according to SIPRI research.
Of the total global inventory of an estimated 12,241 warheads in January 2025, about 9,614 were in military stockpiles for potential use, shows SIPRI data.
An estimated 3,912 of those warheads were deployed with missiles and aircraft, and the rest were in central storage. Around 2,100 of the deployed warheads were kept in a state of high operational alert on ballistic missiles.
Nearly all of these warheads belonged to Russia or the United States, but China may now keep some warheads on missiles during peacetime, said SIPRI.
Since the end of the Cold War, the gradual dismantlement of retired warheads by Russia and the United States has normally outstripped the deployment of new warheads, resulting in an overall year-on-year decrease in the global inventory of nuclear weapons.
SIPRI warned that, "This trend is likely to be reversed in the coming years, as the pace of dismantlement is slowing, while the deployment of new nuclear weapons is accelerating."
