Officials at the World Health Organization have admitted that they are preparing for a “worst-case scenario” nuclear threat if the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran escalates.
Hana Balkhy, WHO regional director for the eastern Mediterranean, said that staff remain “vigilant” for a nuclear incident following President Donald Trump’s decision to bomb Iran in a joint campaign with Israel.
“The worst-case scenario is a nuclear incident, and that’s something that worries us the most,” Balkhy told Politico. “As much as we prepare, there’s nothing that can prevent the harm that will come … the region’s way — and globally if this eventually happens — and the consequences are going to last for decades.”
The official told the outlet that United Nations staff are preparing for an incident in “its broader sense,” including if there was an attack on a nuclear facility or the use of a weapon. “We are thinking about it, and we’re just really hoping that it does not happen,” Balkhy added.
In the wake of the bombing campaign in the Middle East, the WHO is “refreshing” staff on how to respond in the event of a nuclear incident, and providing guidance about long-term health risks linked to radiation exposure, Politico reports.
“I think those who read the history of previous incidents, whether intentional or accidental, are very aware of what we’re talking about,” Balkhy added.
Israel and the U.S. have continued to pummel Iran’s nuclear sites as Trump insisted Tehran was on the brink of getting a nuclear weapon.
At the beginning of “Operation Epic Fury,” which began on February 28, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair General Dan Caine insisted the goal of the operation is to eliminate Iran’s ability to build a nuclear weapon, echoing the same line shared by Trump and the White House when they launched the attacks.
This week, Joe Kent, Trump’s director of the National Counterterrorism Center, resigned from his post because he could not “in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran” and the country posed “no imminent threat to our nation,” he said in a post on X.
In her opening remarks to the Senate Intelligence Committee on Wednesday, Trump’s Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, said that U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran last summer “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear enrichment program.
“There has been no efforts since then to try to rebuild their enrichment capability. The entrances to the underground facilities that were bombed have been buried and shuttered with cement,” Gabbard’s opening remarks stated.
Trump’s artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency czar David Saks caused alarm Monday when he suggested that Israel could escalate the war “by contemplating using a nuclear weapon.”
The president insisted that “Israel would never do that” when asked about the comments later by reporters.
