Will Trump Use Nuclear Weapons in Iran?
I wish this was a silly question. Unfortunately, nobody is laughing...
“It would be bad, but not as bad as the movies would have you believe — radiation is scary, but you can survive it. If you’re not directly in range, there are things you can do.”
“Like what? What should I do? I mean I don’t want to get sick, that’s deadly, isn’t it?”
“It depends on how close you are and how much of a dose you get. The first thing to do is get as far away as you can. Find shelter, strip your clothes and ditch them, get inside, jump in the shower. Wash yourself thoroughly all over, in your mouth, ears, flush your eyes. Use shampoo and soap — no conditioner, no lotion, no makeup. Radiation clings to particles like dust, you want to wash it all away.”
I was relaying these reassurances and explanations to my sister-in-law through my spouse, passing on my extremely limited survival know-how in the event of a nuclear bomb falling near her city in the U.S.
She was frightened. I was trying to be comforting.
I didn’t go into too much detail, because she didn’t need that and I didn’t know enough. Sometimes just having some instructions to follow is enough to ease your nerves, and I hoped that would soothe her.
I don’t know enough to give her a full explanation of what to expect and how to protect herself. What I do know about radiation and nuclear weapons is enough to keep me up at night.
Not least of which because, contrary to the calm confidence I was trying to portray for the sake of her anxiety, your survival really depends on how many fall, how far away you are, and various other factors well outside of your control.
How far away would you need to be? I’m no expert. What level of radiation is safe? I have a vague idea, but not enough to give concrete answers. I can make guesses based on the two bombs we’ve seen dropped on civillian populations before, but those were old.
I have no frame of reference for modern nuclear weapons. They’ve never been used in warfare.
Nuclear weapons and energy have always fascinated me. This is one of my ever-shifting special interests, and one that frequently loops back around to snare me in a research spiral at least once or twice a year.
It’s evident in previous subjects I’ve chosen for articles, such as the Hanford Site and the Runit Island Tomb. Series like the Fallout games (and show) Chernobyl, and Jericho are standby favourites of mine, for good reason.
But now, in a time of increasing instability and uncertainty, with a complete maniac at the head of the most powerful nuke-holding nation in the world, my once-hypothetical interests have become alarmingly real.
That conversation with my spouse and sister-in-law happened quite a while ago, well over a year. I don’t even remember what sparked her nerves that day.
But I know what’s sparking mine right now. And I am not alone.
Most frighteningly, these fears are grounded in the actions and rhetoric of people who have influence in the halls of power.
During Trump’s first term, many Canadians were terrified.
We knew we were dealing with a rabid bear to our south, and we didn’t know how volatile he might truly be.
I remember sitting in the metal shop in college, a few minutes before our first class of the day was supposed to start. My friends and I were quietly discussing the possibility of Trump losing his marbles and dropping a bomb — this was shortly after his first attempt at a trade war with Canada began.
Our teacher walked in to see our anxious faces and asked what was wrong. When we told her, she sighed, sat down and quietly told us she had the same worry. We all agreed that Trump was unpredictable, a lunatic who might do the unthinkable in a fit of pique.
For several minutes we just sat there, most of us looking at the floor and refusing to meet anyone’s eyes. You could have heard a pin drop in that room.
Then we got down to business and reached for our tools. There was nothing we could do, so we distracted ourselves with our work. It was outside of our control. All we could do was keep living and hope for the best.
And now, in 2026, we are once again mired in fear. But this time, there’s a lot more than anxious conjecture weighing us down.
Hearing Trump repeatedly talking about ‘destroying civilisation’ in Iran is pretty fucking disturbing.
Now, as I’m writing this, I’m a few hours away from the deadline Trump set for Iran’s surrender on April 7th. I’m waiting to see what he decides to do.
It’s possible this goes live tomorrow and he’s pulled a TACO maneuver as he so often does when he doesn’t get his way. Maybe he’ll have backed off, maybe he’ll have thrown some more typical small-beans assault and hyped it up with propaganda to make himself look tough.
Or, maybe, he’ll have done the unthinkable.
Israel has already been bombing nuclear power stations in Iran, creating the potential for a Chernobyl-like disaster that would render the country — and parts of the wider Middle East — uninhabitable. We know that Israeli state media is openly discussing going further with ‘unconventional weaponry.’
I honestly can’t predict what Trump is going to do.
He’s unhinged. Rabid. Dangerous. A demented, monstrous, pathetic little old man, determined to build his legacy by whatever means necessary — at least, that’s what he is when he’s lucid.
Gods know what he is when he isn’t.
So. Will Trump use nuclear weapons in Iran? I don’t know. But I’m pretty fucking scared to find out. One of my older relatives once told me that she envied my generation because we never had to fear the spectre of nuclear war like she did when she was younger.
Oh, if only she knew. I wonder what she thinks now?
If bombs do fall, what is there for us to do?
Well, a few things. Like I said, I’m no expert, but there are a few resources the average citizen can study for advice. My advice to my sister-in-law about soaps and forgoing conditioner and makeup is something I learned out of a guide provided by the American Red Cross, which I’ll provide a link to here.
My own country’s government likewise has resources for citizens to read, urging people to be prepared in the event of a nuclear catastrophe — although our focus tends to be on power station failures, as we do not have nuclear weapons.
As for how bad a true nuclear war would be, well… it’s difficult to say. Experts are divided.
Maybe a complete MAD-style bombardment would end all life on Earth and trigger a nuclear winter. Or, maybe that’s unscientific nonsense and humanity would handily survive, even if we suffered serious harms and longterm health implications and birth defects.
I’ve seen arguments on both sides. The fact is, unless it happens we just don’t know.
We’re guessing. And that’s terrifying.
What we do know is that the only country in the world that has ever used nuclear weapons against a civilian population — twice — is now led by a man who once suggested using a nuclear bomb to difuse a hurricane, and didn’t understand why it was a bad idea.
Not encouraging. Especially as he talks about Iran ‘living in hell’ and ‘destroying their civilization’ this very night if he doesn’t get his way.
I hope by the time this article goes out on Wednesday morning, nothing will have happened. I hope, with all my heart, that this will look like alarmist nonsense.
We’ll find out in just a few short hours. Until then, I’ll be holding my breath.
Solidarity wins.