News

Israel is in the sights of the United Nations' nuclear
watchdog.

For months Iran has been targeted by Western nations who have
threatened sanctions and isolation over its apparent push to build a
nuclear bomb.

But Israel is the only country in the Middle East which is believed
to already have atomic weapons.

Israel has never signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and now
the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) wants Israel's position
discussed at a meeting in June.

Israel will never say whether or not it has the nuclear bomb but
Western governments have long assumed the Jewish state has a nuclear
arsenal at its Dimona plant in the Negev desert, and may have done for
40 years.

Nuclear expert Avner Cohen says Israel is in all likelihood the
Middle East's sole, if undeclared, nuclear power.

"The current estimate, in part based on US intelligence, is that
Israel probably has a modest arsenal of 80 to 100 weapons, but it's all
speculation," he said.

Professor Cohen believes Israel has a unique right to have the
nuclear bomb.