“The renewed debate about whether countries like Poland, South Korea and Japan should acquire nuclear weapons could throw the world into a very, very fragile situation,” said the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi.
Saudi Arabia, Turkey, South Korea and Sweden are also considering starting a nuclear program.
“There is talk of friendly proliferation. All of this worries me because I believe that a world with twenty or more nuclear weapon states would be extremely dangerous,” he explained to the Telegraph website.
Grossi also pointed out that any agreement regarding nuclear weapons between Iran and the US that US President Donald Trump would like to reach can only be illusory if his office is not involved in it.
“Iran has a very ambitious and extensive nuclear program, so all of this will require the presence of IAEA inspectors,” he added.
In 1970, 191 countries, excluding the USA, France, China, Great Britain and the USSR, pledged not to build nuclear arsenals. However, in times of global instability, some states are considering their development.
There are currently around 12,000 nuclear warheads or bombs in the warehouses of the powers, the vast majority belonging to Russia and the USA. China has up to 600 warheads, but according to some estimates it may be even more. France has 290 and Great Britain 225.
Other countries with atomic weapons include India (180 warheads), Pakistan (170), Israel (90) and North Korea (approx. 50).
