How Israel Became A Nuclear Power, How Many Bombs Does It Have?

Israel-Iran War: Despite never officially confirming its nuclear arsenal, Israel has long been believed to possess nuclear weapons. The secrecy surrounding its programme makes any estimate uncertain. But experts believe there is enough evidence to draw some broad conclusions.

Israel remains one of the world’s unofficial nuclear states. It has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), nor has it ever publicly declared or denied having nuclear weapons.

According to estimates by the Federation of American Scientists and the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Israel today likely holds around 90 nuclear warheads. However, former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell once suggested, in a leaked email, that Israel might possess as many as 200 bombs – each one potentially aimed at Iran.

Israel’s nuclear journey began soon after its independence. In 1952, the newly formed government created the Israel Atomic Energy Commission to spearhead nuclear research.

Around 1958, construction reportedly began at the secretive facility near Dimona in the Negev desert. By the mid-1960s, whispers within intelligence circles suggested that Israel was making significant progress. By 1967, just after the Six-Day War, it is believed that Israel had developed the capacity to build nuclear explosives.

What makes Israel’s programme particularly enigmatic is how discreetly it was built. Despite imposing strict controls on nuclear materials, many Western suppliers allegedly provided Israel with technology and components without fully enforcing NPT safeguards. This assistance, direct or indirect, helped Israel quietly amass the rare isotopes and technical know-how needed for bomb development.

Why Israel built nukes? It viewed nuclear weapons as an insurance policy in a volatile region. Its leadership feared that if Iran ever acquired a nuclear bomb, Israel’s very existence could be threatened. That mentality has intensified as recent events, missile exchanges, airstrikes and a growing Iran-Israel standoff, have elevated both countries to the edge of open conflict.

The wide range of estimates, between 90 and 200 warheads, reflects uncertainty. The lower number comes from technical assessments of Israel’s capacity – plutonium production rates, missile delivery systems and storage facilities. The higher end comes from diplomatic notes like Colin Powell’s statement, suggesting Israel may have stockpiled more weapons than outside observers can verify.

Israel’s nuclear programme remains cloaked in silence, supported by decades of official ambiguity. Current estimates are just that, estimates. But whether it holds a few dozen or several hundred nuclear bombs, Israel clearly has enough firepower to shape its national security policy for decades to come. And in a region increasingly defined by missile tests, nuclear rhetoric and high-speed airstrikes, that arsenal carries a heavy geopolitical weight.