‘Doing a North Korea’? Why the Middle East could be entering a new nuclear age

The Middle East stands on the precipice of a new nuclear age, with Saudi Arabia set to acquire American uranium enrichment technology and Turkey eager to follow suit, as Iran weighs withdrawal from the treaty that bars it from making atomic bombs.

Momentum is building: last week, the United States and Israel both threatened further air strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities, claiming it was attempting to resurrect the programme. The country’s three main complexes were buried deep underground after the US and Israel bombed them during their first, brief air war against the Islamic Republic in June 2025.

The warnings by US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu followed the September 9 publication of a Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) study claiming that a recent surge in construction activity at the so-called Pickaxe Mountain site “likely” meant it was being developed into an underground fortress for Iran’s nuclear programme.

The CSIS report said the facility could either be a centrifuge assembly facility, an enrichment plant, or a safe haven for other “nuclear weapons-relevant” work such as uranium metal conversion.