Even when the U.S. and Israel fired missiles and dropped bombs on the home of Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his wife and other members of his family, killing more than 40 members of the leadership of Iran, senior Iranian officials had maintained that Iran would never develop a nuclear bomb.
The Omani Foreign Minister, who was in discussions with Iran and the United States on February 27, 2026, only days before the U.S./Israeli attack on Iran, said Iran agreed to “never, ever have…nuclear material that will create a bomb.”
“There was no evidence that Iran was close to a nuclear weapon,” said Jeffrey Lewis of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies after the U.S. attack on Iran.
Arms control experts have disputed Trump’s claim that Iran “soon” could have missiles capable of reaching the U.S., and they say there’s a lack of evidence that the country “attempted to rebuild” nuclear enrichment facilities damaged by U.S. strikes last year.
U.S. Intelligence Community Said That Iran Was NOT Developing a Nuclear Weapon
Prior to the U.S./Israeli June 2025 attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, in March 2025, the U.S. intelligence agencies’ 31-page “Annual Threat Assessment” stated: “We continue to assess Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and that Khamenei has not reauthorized the nuclear weapons program he suspended in 2003, though pressure has probably built on him to do so.” (page 26)
Lesson Learned: Nuclear Weapons Are a Deterrent to U.S. Attacks
The lesson that the Iranian government and the world has learned is that NOT developing a nuclear weapon will lead to the U.S. assassinating the leadership of your country and bombing the hell out of the rest of the country.
All you have to do is ask the Russians, Chinese and North Koreans about the value of nuclear weapons to deter the United States from attacking them.
Will developing and testing nuclear weapons keep the United States from attacking? So far, the answer is YES.
So that is the foreign policy imperative of 2026: Develop nuclear weapons or always be threatened by the United States.
Venezuela: No Nuclear Weapons—U.S. Attacked
Venezuela had no nuclear weapons and its head of state Nicolás Maduro and the former Attorney General and President of the National Assembly, Maduro’s spouse Cilia Flores, were kidnapped and imprisoned in the U.S. on January 3, 2026, by the military of the United States and the other leadership of the country threatened with the same treatment.
Afghanistan: No Nuclear Weapons—U.S. Attacked
Iraq: No Nuclear Weapons—U.S. Attacked
Cuba, Nicaragua, Canada, Greenland, Denmark, Mexico:
Cuba has no nuclear weapons and, after the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, has no means of strategic defense of the country, and its leadership is threatened daily by Trump.
Nicaragua has no nuclear weapons and its leadership is threatened by the United States.
Canada, Greenland, Denmark and Mexico have no nuclear weapons and the threats from the U.S. come almost daily.
When Is Enough…Enough?
When at least 72,000 (probably many more) are killed by U.S.-manufactured bombs in the genocide of Gaza—is that enough?
When the Head of State of another country is kidnapped and imprisoned in the U.S.—is that enough?
When Israel dictates when the U.S. goes to war on a country that has not attacked the U.S. and has not developed nuclear weapons—is that enough?
When the U.S. threatens a 70-year-old revolution 90 miles from the United States with decapitation and destruction—is that enough?
When the President of the United States orders the assassinations of 155+ persons in 46 boats allegedly transporting drugs but pardons the former President of Honduras who was convicted by a federal court and sentenced to 45 years in prison for drug operations while President of his country—is that enough?
Is pardoning more than 1,000 persons convicted of the 2021 rioting and destruction of the U.S. Capitol—is that enough?
Is the policy for 100,000 non-criminal humans being locked up in horrific detention/prison facilities—is that enough?
And on and on! Is that enough?
In the words of religious friends, “Sweet Jesus, what will be Enough?”
When Does It End?
It ends at the White House when the people of the United States have had enough.
It ends when the U.S. Congress, both Republicans and Democrats, have had enough.
Have We Had Enough Yet?
On one level, it seems like NOT—but on other levels, we are reaching that point.
Will There Be Blowback from These Policies?
In one word: YES
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About the Author
Ann Wright is a retired United States Army colonel and retired U.S. State Department official.
She was one of three State Department officials to publicly resign in direct protest of the 2003 Invasion of Iraq.
Since that time Colonel Wright has been a dedicated peace activist.
Ann can be reached at annw1946@gmail.com.
