Foreign Affairs

Leaked Powell Emails Reveal Secret Israel Nuke Count

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Leaked emails from former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell could reveal the number of nuclear weapons in Israel’s arsenal.

“The boys in Tehran know Israel has 200, all targeted on Tehran, and we have thousands,” Powell wrote a high-profile Democratic donor in 2015, after a speech by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Israel maintains a policy of neither confirming or denying its possession of nuclear weapons.

Powell’s email is the first candid estimation of Israel’s nuclear capability in the public domain. Past independent reports have placed the number of Israeli nukes between 80 and 400. Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter estimated in 2007 that Israel had approximately 150 nuclear weapons, in line with Powell’s estimate.

Powell’s email also reflects strategic thinking in its nuclear policy towards Iran. Netanyahu remains staunchly opposed to President Barack Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran. Netanyahu believes Iran is merely buying time to pursue a widespread nuclear weapons program, which it could use to existentially threaten Israel.

“Allah is great. Death to America. Death to Israel. A curse upon the Jews. Victory to Islam,” a popular Iranian slogan reads. Iran frequently celebrates political holidays by burning Obama and Netanyahu effigies, along with American and Israeli flags.

Israel began its nuclear weapons program in the late 1950s to ensure its place as a security bulwark against antagonistic Arab neighbors. “I do not know of any other nation whose neighbors declare that they wish to terminate it, and not only declare, but prepare for it by all means available to them,” former Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion said in the days after his resignation.

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