A disturbing map shows the number of countries that possess nuclear weapons, amid fears that the world is edging towards all-out global conflict.
There are approximately 3,880 active nuclear warheads and 12,119 total nuclear warheads in the world as of 2024, according to the Federation of American Scientists
Eight countries around the world are known to have weapons of mass destruction ready to be deployed. These include the United States, Russia, France, China, the United Kingdom, Pakistan, India, and North Korea.
The latter – Pakistan, India, and North Korea – are not members of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). The three countries refuse to sign up to the UN Treaty which prohibits acquiring more nuclear weapons and encourages disarmament.
There is a ninth country – Israel – that is suspected of having dozens of nuclear bombs but refuses to acknowledge it under a policy of deliberate ambiguity.
Israel is understood to have between 75 and 400 nuclear warheads ready to launch.
The country has also declined to sign up to the NPT, citing threats to its national security interests.
There are fears that Iran could join this group of nuclear-armed nations as the country closes in on its own weapons of mass destruction.
This comes as a debate in the House of Lords warned that Iran was just “minutes away” from developing nuclear warheads.
There are reports that Israel could target Iran’s nuclear facilities as part of a response to the barrage of drones and missiles fired over the weekend.
Discussing the Iranian retaliatory attack, independent crossbench peer Baroness Deech said: “We seem to have forgotten about the nuclear plan, the JCPOA, we’ve taken our eye off that. Iran is within minutes of getting nuclear capability and mad enough to use it.”
Former Tory Cabinet minister Lord Forsyth added that, if he were in Israel, he would “be worried that this evil regime (Iran) is developing a nuclear capability”.
Nukes have only been used twice in war – both instances by the US, when they dropped a nuclear bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, and a second on Nagasaki three days later.
The war between Russia and Ukraine has escalated fears of a nuclear war, with Vladimir Putin even publicly declaring that his country’s nuclear forces are on “high alert”.
China has also intensified concerns further, amid reports that Beijing is trying to double its number of nuclear warheads from 350 to 700 by 2027.
