Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation

Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation

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North Dakota stands at the center of America’s nuclear deterrence amid Iran conflict

Senior Policy Director John Erath spoke with Valley News Live about nuclear threats to the United States.

John Erath, Senior Policy Director for the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, says the current conflict with Iran does not pose a direct nuclear threat to the United States, at least not yet.

“Iran does not have nuclear weapons. Second, they do not have missiles that could reach the United States, so there is not the threat of a nuclear attack from Iran in the present tense,” Erath said.

However, Erath cautioned that U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities have not eliminated the country’s nuclear knowledge.

“What they did was they destroyed facilities, buildings, labs, factories, things like that. They did not destroy, and could not destroy the know how. The knowledge behind Iran’s nuclear program still exists and Iran could still decide to develop nuclear weapons in the future,” he said.

While Iran may not pose an immediate nuclear threat, Erath says other adversaries already do.

“If you’re talking about more likely scenarios, there are direct threats from Russian and Chinese long-range ballistic missiles. North Korea may also have missiles that could reach the United States,” Erath said.

A recent simulation published by Scientific American identified North Dakota as one of the states at highest risk of radiation exposure in a nuclear attack, largely because of its concentration of ICBM silos.

Erath was blunt about what a large-scale nuclear exchange would mean for the region.

“It’s important to understand that if there were a large-scale nuclear war, no place is going to be safe,” he said.

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Despite the sobering threat landscape, Erath says the goal is not to eliminate nuclear weapons overnight, but to keep them in check.

“It’s unrealistic to say that nuclear weapons are going to go away overnight, but we can manage the dangers while they exist,” he said. Read more