Middle East nuclear escalation concerns

Analysts warned that Iran could follow North Korea's precedent of withdrawing from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in response to a new Saudi-US nuclear pact and the threat of further attacks on its facilities, after comments from President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu followed a September 9 report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The CSIS study said a surge in construction activity at Iran's so-called Pickaxe Mountain site 'likely' indicated it was being developed into an underground fortress for the country's nuclear program, potentially housing a centrifuge assembly plant, an enrichment site, or other nuclear-weapons-relevant work such as uranium metal conversion.

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As it ran

17 September 2026

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