Terry Malone
Israel’s Nuclear Monopoly: The Nuclear Trigger That Could Ignite the Middle East examines one of the most dangerous contradictions in the modern international order: Israel possesses nuclear weapons outside the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, while Iran, a treaty member, has faced sanctions, sabotage, assassinations and military attack over a nuclear programme it maintains is not intended to produce a weapon.The book traces the history behind this unequal nuclear order, from the 1953 overthrow of Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh and Western support for the Shah, through the Iran-Iraq War, Israel’s undeclared nuclear arsenal, the creation and destruction of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, and the escalating confrontation involving Israel, Iran and America.It asks a fundamental question: can a non-proliferation system remain credible when nuclear restraint is demanded from some states while nuclear possession, expansion and strategic ambiguity are tolerated in others?The danger extends far beyond Iran. Israeli political figures have openly discussed extreme military options, America continues to modernise its nuclear forces, Saudi Arabia has warned that it could pursue nuclear weapons if Iran acquires them, and Australia’s involvement in AUKUS brings nuclear-powered military technology deeper into the Indo-Pacific security order.At the centre of the book is a broader warning. Nuclear proliferation is not driven only by ambition. It can also be driven by fear, insecurity and the belief that nuclear weapons provide protection against attack or regime change. Every exception granted to a powerful ally weakens the rules imposed upon everyone else.Israel’s Nuclear Monopoly is an examination of nuclear inequality, strategic power and the political choices that could turn a regional confrontation into a catastrophe whose consequences would reach far beyond the Middle East.
