As instability grows in the Middle East, fears have been raised over Iran’s nuclear capabilities. What has happened between Israel and Iran? Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in Iranian capital, Tehran, last month. While Israel has not taken public responsibility for the attack, tensions between the two countries have increased.
Global leaders, including Prime Minister Keir Starmer, have urged Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian to stand down its ongoing threats of a military attack on Israel, which the president has refused to do. The US has warned it is preparing for “a significant set of attacks” on Israel by Iran or its proxies in the coming days. Meanwhile, the Hezbollah movement in Lebanon has also warned it could retaliate after one of its top commanders was killed by an Israeli air strike in Beirut.
What are Iran’s nuclear capabilities? While Iran technically is not a nuclear power, it is believed it has the capability to build a nuclear weapon in a year – and questions have been ongoing over the past few years about whether it is secretly preparing to do so. It is, however, internationally prohibited from doing so. The Iran nuclear deal - the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) - saw an agreement reached in 2015 between Iran, the UK, China, France, Germany, Russia and the US to limit the Iranian nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief.
However, under the leadership of Donald Trump, the US withdrew in 2018. Iran maintains that its nucl.