Today we’re bringing you the latest episode of Breaking History, the podcast where I go back in time, in order to make sense of the present. This week, we’re talking about the most dangerous nuclear nation on Earth, and the despots who’d like to join their club. Listen to the episode, which features voices from both the past and present, here:
If you’re a paying subscriber, scroll down to read the companion essay, which tells the story of how North Korea lied its way into nuclear power—and how Iran might do the same.
For two decades, one mission has galvanized four American presidents: preventing Iran from building a nuclear bomb. George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden have all tried a combination of sticks and carrots to seduce or deter the mullahs from going nuclear. They tried sanctions. They tried censure. They tried sabotage. They tried bribery. They tried diplomacy.
And none of it has worked.
Iran has pressed on with its nuclear program, and has enriched enough uranium to fuel a dozen nuclear-tipped missiles. Although Iran hasn’t built the weapons yet, it’s already mastered the hardest part of that process: creating the fuel for a warhead capable of creating a mushroom cloud. By even the most conservative estimates, Iran is only a few weeks away from being able to produce the fuel for an A-bomb.
This isn’t good.
As the Trump administration desperately tries to avoid a hot war with Iran by entering negotiations, it’s worth remembering: We have been here before. Nearly 20 years ago, another Republican administration deployed its most seasoned diplomats to prevent the Hermit Kingdom from going nuclear. And despite those efforts, the diplomats failed. We now live in a world where a tin-pot tyrant in Pyongyang can turn Seoul and Tokyo into a pile of radioactive ash at the press of a button.
This is the story of how North Korea—the most rogue of all states—tested its first fission-powered bomb in 2006, and in doing so upended the nuclear status quo forever.