As of 2006, the world contained an estimated 27,000 nuclear warheads spread across nine nations. These figures assumed that Kazakhstan, Libya, Argentina and others really did stop their nuclear programs when they said they did. Recently, however, at least 40 additional nations from the Middle East to Africa to Latin America have approached United Nations officials signaling their interest in starting civil nuclear power programs. According to the Washington Post, this is a trend that nuclear proliferation experts say could provide the foundation for nuclear arsenals across the globe.

While many countries are citing energy needs as their motivation for nuclear power programs, the fact remains that a lot of these nations—such as Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates—already have some of the largest oil reserves in the world. A far more plausible reason for a nation like Saudi Arabia to desire nuclear power plants is to provide a measure of security against growing threats like Iran.

“We are concerned that some countries are moving down the nuclear path in reaction to the Iranians,” a senior U.S. government official who tracks the spread of nuclear technology said. “The big question is: At what point do you reach the nuclear tipping point, when enough countries go nuclear that others decide they must do so, too?”

Even Yemen, the poorest county in the Arab world, is purchasing a nuclear reactor as one of 11 Middle East states expanding a nuclear power program.

“This is not primarily about nuclear energy. It’s a hedge against Iran,” said Ploughshares Fund President Joseph Cirincione, an expert on nuclear policy. “They’re starting their engines. It takes decades to build a nuclear infrastructure, and they’re beginning to do it now. They’re saying, ‘If there’s going to be an arms race, we’re going to be in it.’”

The Cold War is over, and the nuclear threat to the world is no longer limited to two superpowers; it is spread out over a multitude of unstable Third World nations. The United States’ failure to halt Iran’s uranium enrichment program provides further proof that nonproliferation efforts have failed. As Charles Krauthammer wrote, “If we fail to prevent an Iranian regime run by apocalyptic fanatics from going nuclear, we will have reached a point of no return. It is not just that Iran might be the source of a great conflagration but that we will have demonstrated to the world that for those similarly inclined there is no serious impediment” (Time,March 26, 2006).

The proliferation of nuclear material represents an unparalleled threat to global stability. For more information on what you can do to face this reality, read “General MacArthur Saw Hope in a Nuclear Age” by the Trumpet’s editor in chief, Gerald Flurry.