Dear Editor:

This is in reply to Joe Grant’s Aug. 23 letter, “Out of the ashes.”

I’m a nuclear physicist who has carefully studied the nuclear programs of Iran and Israel since the 1970s; my field is nuclear safeguards, nonproliferation and arms control. I’ve lived, worked, and traveled in over 50 countries and worked with people from over 100. I've followed the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists since its founding at the Chicago MetLab in the 1940s. I've a good friend who is on the committee that sets the Domesday Clock, which is now at 89 seconds to midnight.

I do not believe Iran has any intention of building nuclear weapons; this may seem strange because I do know they have the material, experience, and knowledge to do so.

Putin has threatened to use such weapons, but I believe the likelihood of this is low.

There’s a book written for the Air Force War College that states that Israel had at least 400 nuclear weapons of all types in 2014; I believe this was actually over 500. Its Dimona plutonium production reactor is still operable, so this number could be much larger. Israel has a policy known as The Samson Option, which refers to the biblical story of Samson and Delilah. Samson’s hair grows back while he is chained in the Philistine temple; on a feast day he tears down the main columns of the temple killing himself and thousands of Philistines. The modern Israeli version is that should Israel ever feel in danger of falling, it will use its nuclear arsenal to destroy the world. Israel, however, can’t destroy the world, but can put a great hurt on it.

In war, it is civilians who are, by far, killed and injured more than combatants; this is surely true in Ukraine and Gaza. The claim that civilians are not targeted may be strictly correct; however, it is well known that so-called “collateral damage” is well understood by Russia and Israel.

Israel is our ally only as long as we continue to provide arms and ammunition.

As David Ben-Gurion said, “Palestinians and Jews wish to claim the ancient land of Media and Judea as their own; only one can succeed in the end.”

Doug Reilly

Los Alamos

and Sprucewold