Even as the US strikes Iran to degrade its nuclear program, many countries are in turmoil, debating whether to deploy nuclear weapons on their territory as the ultimate deterrent.
While many of these countries might not develop nuclear weapons of their own, a growing number are expected to enter nuclear-sharing agreements with established nuclear powers, allowing such weapons to be deployed on their territory.
At the same time, the world’s nine nuclear-armed states are expanding their arsenals, modernizing delivery systems, increasing the number of operationally deployed warheads, and extending their nuclear umbrellas to additional countries.
In effect, these trends point toward a world with more nuclear weapons and more nations possessing deployable warheads, rather than fewer.
In fact, even countries having the strongest guardrails against the introduction of nuclear weapons are rethinking their stand.
Japan To Debate Longstanding Nuclear Taboo
On July 19, Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said that Japan needs a debate on nuclear weapons, as some European countries are seeking greater nuclear deterrence.
Japan “cannot avoid touching” the issue, Koizumi was quoted as saying by the Japanese Daily The Mainichi.
Notably, the Japanese government is expected to revise three key national security documents by the year’s end. The revision was originally slated for around 2027 but has been moved forward.
Japan remains the only country in the world to have suffered nuclear bombings, and it has the strongest guardrails against nuclear weapons.
It famously adheres to three non-nuclear principles: not to produce, possess, or allow the introduction of nuclear weapons onto its territory.
However, in the current geopolitical environment, even Japan feels compelled to debate its stand on the nuclear issue.
Koizumi said Japan’s security environment has grown harsher and argued Japan needs to change a situation in which some topics are deemed unacceptable to debate.
In December last year, a source who is involved in devising security policy under Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s government said Japan should possess nuclear weapons.
Earlier, former Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera also said late last year that Japan needs to debate the future of its non-nuclear principles.
Koizumi cited France and Finland as pursuing policies that favor stronger nuclear deterrence.
Europe Rushes Toward Nuclear Deterrence
Finland’s parliament in June passed a bill that would allow nuclear weapons to be brought into the country. The law took effect on July 1, 2026, after President Alexander Stubb signed it.
Finland had a Cold War-era law that completely prohibited the import, transport, supply, and possession of nuclear weapons on its territory.
Under the new law, nuclear weapons could be deployed on Finnish territory ‘when it is done for Finland’s homeland defense, as part of NATO’s collective defense, or in the context of defense cooperation with allies.
Similarly, French President Emmanuel Macron said in March that his country will increase the number of nuclear warheads.
France has also proposed providing a ‘nuclear umbrella’ to European states to ensure their security.
In a major speech at France’s nuclear submarine base in Île Longue on 2 March 2026, President Emmanuel Macron formally offered to extend French nuclear protection to European allies through a new doctrine called “forward deterrence”.
During the speech, Macron mentioned Belgium, Britain, Denmark, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Poland, and Sweden as European allies with which France was already in discussion.
In May, Norway formally joined France’s nuclear umbrella.
“Norway will come under France’s nuclear umbrella,” Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre told news agency NTB on May 27.
“We are doing this in light of the security policy situation in Europe, including Russia’s massive rearmament, also in the nuclear domain, and that it is waging a full-scale war against another European country,” Støre told Norwegian news agency NTB.
Also in May, Lithuania’s political leaders expressed willingness to launch discussions on amending the country’s constitution to allow the deployment of French nuclear weapons on its territory, citing the current geopolitical situation.
Article 137 of the Lithuanian Constitution currently stipulates that there may be no weapons of mass destruction or foreign military bases on Lithuanian territory.
Meanwhile, Germany is also considering a joint Anglo-French nuclear umbrella.
Friedrich Merz has earlier said that he would “talk to the British and French about whether their nuclear protection could also be extended to us.”
Poland is another country that is considering fielding nuclear weapons on its territory.
In a March 7 speech to the Polish parliament, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that Poland “must reach for the most modern possibilities, also related to nuclear weapons and modern unconventional weapons. It is not enough to purchase conventional weapons, the most traditional ones.”
Similarly, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy recently told the European Council that a nuclear arsenal might be Ukraine’s only deterrent if NATO membership is not offered.
From Norway to Finland, Germany to Ukraine, and from Lithuania to Japan, a growing number of countries are citing the current geopolitical situation as a reason to change their historical stance on the issue of nuclear weapons.
The Irony of Nuclear Powers Attacking Non-Nuclear States
Currently, two major wars are underway.
In the Middle East, two nuclear-armed countries, the US and Israel, are attacking Iran.
Similarly, in Europe, Russia, the world’s largest nuclear power, is attacking Ukraine.
Ironically, both the US and Russia had entered into treaties with these countries and went on to attack them regardless.
Under the 1995 Budapest Memorandum, Russia promised to protect Ukraine’s territorial integrity if Kyiv agreed to give up the nuclear weapons it inherited from the Soviet Union.
Ukraine gave up its nukes, and nearly three decades later, Russia invaded Ukraine.
Similarly, in 2015, the United States was a key party to the Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA). President Trump withdrew the U.S. from the agreement in 2018 and attacked the country in 2025.
The optics of two nuclear-armed countries attacking non-nuclear countries across two different theatres is not lost on anyone.
Is the U.S. Allowing Saudi Arabia to Enrich Uranium Without Proper Safeguards?
Meanwhile, even as the US is attacking Iran over its nuclear program, the Trump administration has tentatively agreed to allow Saudi Arabia to enrich uranium without enacting international safeguards intended to prevent nuclear weapons development, according to sources familiar with the matter and documents reviewed by CNN.
The draft nuclear accord that outlines US support for Riyadh’s civilian nuclear program is awaiting President Donald Trump’s signature despite US-Saudi negotiations concluding in October 2025.
Two sources familiar with the matter indicated that the ongoing war with Iran, which, according to Trump, was launched in part to prevent Tehran from using its enriched uranium to build nuclear weapons, has played a role in delaying Trump’s signature.
According to experts CNN spoke with, the deal could potentially provide Saudi Arabia with a path to nuclear weapons unless stringent safeguards are put in place.
Notably, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has previously threatened to build his own nuclear weapons should Iran, his country’s principal regional rival, acquire the bomb.
According to one source, it was already expected that the documents would include a special provision allowing the kingdom to conduct some uranium enrichment and/or plutonium reprocessing on its own territory.
Uranium enrichment and plutonium reprocessing are the two main ways to obtain the materials needed to develop nuclear weapons. Most countries whose civilian nuclear reactors run on enriched uranium do not produce it themselves; instead, they purchase the material from vendors like the US or Russia and receive it in sealed shipments under strict international supervision.
But the draft agreement also does not require Saudi Arabia to adopt a standard enhanced nuclear safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency, known as the Additional Protocol, according to a waiver submitted to Congress last year by the administration and a May State Department letter to lawmakers.
Instead, the safeguards deal will be only between the US and the kingdom.
This could set a dangerous precedent, as tomorrow Russia could also start pushing its own bilateral safeguards in lieu of more intrusive IAEA standards.
Notably, last year, Saudi Arabia also signed a Strategic Mutual Defense Agreement (SMDA) with Pakistan.
While the agreement does not explicitly mention nuclear weapons, Pakistani ministers and government officials have hinted that it covers the full spectrum of military capabilities, including Pakistan’s nuclear deterrent.
South Korea and Japan Hold Latent Nuclear Potential
In the Pacific, both South Korea and Japan already have enriched Uranium stockpiles.
As has been explained in the EurAsian Times before, South Korea’s nuclear capability has never been in question since the days of late President Park Chung-hee, when the Nixon Administration was thinking of reducing the U.S. presence on the peninsula as per its Guam doctrine (1969), which said that henceforward, the US would like to provide more economic and security assistance to the allies than keeping American troops in them.
In fact, in 2004, Seoul revealed to the International Atomic Energy Agency that it had attempted to enrich uranium as late as 2000. It conducted chemical uranium enrichment from 1979 to 1981, separated small quantities of plutonium in 1982, experimented with uranium enrichment in 2000, and manufactured depleted uranium munitions from 1983 to 1987.
Japan also has an advanced civilian nuclear energy program, large stockpiles of separated plutonium, and an impressive local defense industry. So much so that, if allowed, Japanese scientists and technologists could take the final steps to nuclear armament within months.
In fact, in January this year, Beijing released a 30-page report that included a call for the international community to ‘take concrete and strong measures’ against Japan’s nuclear ambitions.
“Japan may already have produced weapons-grade plutonium in secret and has the technological and economic capabilities to achieve nuclear armament in a short period of time,” the report said.
It also cited a remark made by former US President Joe Biden that Japan had the capacity to have nuclear weapons “virtually overnight”.
The report warned that not only does Japan have the weapons-grade plutonium and the technological capability to produce nuclear weapons, but Tokyo might already have two nuclear bombs in its possession.
Notably, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe have indeed suggested revisiting Japan’s nuclear policy.
Prime Minister Takaichi has previously suggested in her writings that Japan’s reliance on the U.S. nuclear umbrella makes the principle of prohibiting nuclear weapons on Japanese soil increasingly unrealistic.
Similarly, in 2022, former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe suggested that Tokyo should share nuclear weapons with the US.
All of these states might not produce nuclear weapons, but clearly, the allure of nuclear arms is increasing even in countries historically opposed to nukes.
If the world moves on the same trajectory, nearly half a dozen more countries can have nuclear weapons on their soil in a few years.
- Sumit Ahlawat has over a decade of experience in news media. He has worked with Press Trust of India, Times Now, Zee News, Economic Times, and Microsoft News. He holds a Master’s Degree in International Media and Modern History from The University of Sheffield, UK.
- He can be reached at ahlawat.sumit85 (at) gmail.com
