Intervention comes as President Donald Trump has joined Israel in military operations against Iran
WASHINGTON:
A group of progressive Democratic lawmakers in the United States has called on Secretary of State Marco Rubio to publicly acknowledge Israel’s suspected nuclear weapons programme, marking a rare coordinated challenge to Washington’s decades-long policy of ambiguity on the issue amid the ongoing US-Israel conflict with Iran.
In a letter signed by 30 Democrats led by Representative Joaquin Castro, lawmakers argued that the United States could not pursue a coherent nuclear non-proliferation policy in the Middle East while refusing to openly discuss Israel’s alleged nuclear arsenal.
“For nearly six decades the US has voluntarily remained in the dark on Israel’s nuclear capabilities. The ambiguity ends now. There is too much at stake to accept ignorance. We are at war alongside Israel against Iran without knowing what their red lines are for using a nuclear weapon,” Castro wrote on X.
“We are, in the fullest sense, fighting this war side by side with a country whose potential nuclear weapons programme the United States government officially refuses to acknowledge,” the lawmakers wrote in the letter.
The intervention comes as President Donald Trump has joined Israel in military operations against Iran, which Washington says are aimed at preventing Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons through its civilian nuclear programme.
Israel is widely believed to have developed nuclear weapons in the 1960s, although it has consistently maintained a policy of “nuclear opacity”, neither confirming nor denying possession of such weapons. The country is also not a signatory to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).
The lawmakers said Congress had a constitutional responsibility to be fully informed about “the nuclear balance in the Middle East, the risk of escalation by any party to this conflict, and the administration’s planning and contingencies for such scenarios”.
The letter specifically asked Rubio to provide details about Israel’s nuclear capabilities, including its warheads, launch systems, fissile material production and enrichment capacity. It also sought information on whether Israel had communicated any “nuclear doctrine, red lines, or thresholds for nuclear use” during the conflict with Iran.
Particular attention was directed towards the Negev Nuclear Research Centre in Dimona, long believed to be the centre of Israel’s nuclear programme. The lawmakers sought an assessment of risks to US citizens in the event of future Iranian strikes on the facility after Iranian missiles injured dozens near Dimona in March.
The Democrats further questioned whether the Trump administration had received assurances from Israel that nuclear weapons would not be used and whether there were any indications Israel had considered deploying such weapons during the conflict.
While successive US administrations have avoided publicly discussing Israel’s nuclear capability, the lawmakers noted that several American and Israeli officials had effectively acknowledged it over the years. They cited comments by former US defence secretary nominee Robert Gates during a 2006 Senate hearing, when he referred to Israel as one of the regional “powers with nuclear weapons”.
They also referenced remarks by former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert and Israeli minister Amichai Eliyahu, who in 2023 said dropping a nuclear bomb on Gaza was “one of the possibilities” after the October 7 Hamas attacks.
