WHO warns of 'worst-case scenario nuclear incident' in US-Israeli war on Iran
The World Health Organisation (WHO) is bracing for potential nuclear fallout from the escalating US-Israeli war on Iran, and warns that the outcome would be catastrophic no matter how many precautions are taken.
Speaking to Politico this week, Hanan Balkhy, WHO regional director for the Eastern Mediterranean, said she is "really just hoping that it does not happen".
"The worst-case scenario is a nuclear incident, and that's something that worries us the most,” she said.
“As much as we prepare, there's nothing that can prevent the harm that will come," Balkhy added. "The consequences are going to last for decades."
The US has the largest stockpile of nuclear weapons in the world. Israel, though it has never publicly admitted it, is the only nuclear power in the Middle East. Iran may have nuclear ambitions, but has not enriched its uranium to bomb-making levels, according to the United Nations nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.
There are also nuclear energy plants in the UAE.
In June, the US took the unprecedented step of bombing Iran's three largest nuclear sites in Natanz, Isfahan, and Fordow. The US president maintains the plants were "obliterated", but details on the human impact of the attacks have not been disclosed by the Iranian government.
"I think those who read the history of previous incidents, whether intentional or accidental, are very aware of what we're talking about,” Balkhy said, referring to Washington's use of two atomic bombs in Japan in 1945, and the 1986 Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant disaster in Ukraine.
The impact doesn't end with the number of people dying, she told Politico, pointing to adverse respiratory and environmental effects that will bring cancer diagnoses and last for decades.
On Tuesday, President Donald Trump was asked by a reporter at the White House whether he believes, as his aide David Sacks had earlier suggested, that Israel wouldn't use a nuclear weapon in the region.
"They wouldn't do that. Israel wouldn't do that," he said.
For now, WHO is advising public officials on best practices, but Balkhy did not elaborate on what those are.
The UN agency came under intense scrutiny during Trump's first term, when the Covid-19 pandemic was hitting the world, for bungling the global response by not disclosing the full scope of the danger of the viral outbreak that started in Wuhan, China.
This article was sourced from Middle East Eye.
Read Full Article on Middle East Eye →