Beyond Nuclear International Weekly Digest, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2026: Will Iran get the bomb? & Is the NPT too weak or worse?

Posted: 17th February 2026

There was a workable Iran nuclear deal in place until Trump blew it up in 2018. Is he now trying to blow up Iran as well, wonders Linda Pentz Gunter? And the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT) has been in existence for 55 years, but Ivana Nikolić Hughes and Peter Kuznick question whether it has retained its relevance. 

Will Iran get the bomb?

Two nuclear-armed countries, Israel and the United States, are threatening Iran militarily even as the Trump administration is trying to renegotiate a nuclear limitation and verification deal with Iran not unlike the agreement the previous Trump administration already destroyed. Although Iran has consistently said it is not developing nuclear weapons, it also doesn’t take kindly to being told it can’t have them by those who do and who represent a security threat in the region. READ MORE

Is the NPT too weak or worse?

The Trump administration’s military aggression toward Venezuela and attempts at regime change there show that international laws no longer apply. What does this mean for the NPT? The next review conference at the UN this spring will be crucial as another failure to deliver a substantive outcome document could set in motion both vertical and horizontal nuclear proliferation. READ MORE

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