Iran is interested in chemical and biological weapons and has made some inquiries regarding the process of acquiring such weapons, though there is not yet current proof that it is developing or possesses those weapons, The Jerusalem Post learned on Monday.
The revelation comes after an Iran International report, which suggested that Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) "is developing biological and chemical warheads for the country's long-range ballistic missiles...as it transfers missile launchers to eastern regions of Iran."
Further, that report attributed to "military sources" that "these activities have accelerated in recent months and are being pursued amid rising regional tensions and Tehran’s concerns about the possibility of another direct confrontation with Israel and the United States."
Despite the report, there is not yet existing proof that it is developing or possesses those weapons, or the proper warhead for such weapons.
Still, Israel is concerned by the developments, and in addition, the three massive attacks by Iran against Israel between April 2024 and June 2025 indicate that Tehran is more ready to take risks to harm Israel than it had been in the past.
Israel pushes US to take tougher stance against Iran's ballistic missiles
Another dimension to the revelation, especially the timing, however, seemed to be related to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s meeting with US President Donald Trump on Monday night.
Netanyahu is seeking to convince Trump to take a tougher stance against Iran’s ballistic-missile program. Trump has been less attentive to this issue, preferring to focus on the US’s and Israel’s success in setting back Iran’s nuclear program this past June.
Chemical weapons – not to mention biological weapons, which are often considered even more deadly – might be a way to get Trump’s attention back on the Iran issue, even if the nuclear program is not a threat in the foreseeable future.
In practical terms, chemical and biological weapons are far easier and cheaper to acquire than nuclear weapons.
Prior to December 2024, Syria’s military, which is less wealthy and much weaker than Iran’s, possessed chemical weapons and had even used them periodically during the Syrian civil war.
For many years, until the US seized the majority of Syria’s chemical weapons in 2013-2014, Israel regularly sent out supplies of gas masks to the population to be prepared for a potential Syrian chemical-weapons attack.
In 1991, Iraq fired Scud ballistic missiles at Israel and threatened to use chemical weapons in the warheads.
None of Israel’s enemies have used chemical or biological weapons against it, likely for fear that this could lead Israel to use more powerful weapons against them, which, according to foreign sources, even include nuclear weapons.
For that same reason, to avoid an Israeli strike, and possibly a more dangerous one, some Israeli sources believe Iran will not purchase chemical or biological weapons.
Moreover, unlike nuclear weapons, which if used are virtually guaranteed to cause enormous casualty events, chemical and biological weapons in many cases might not cause mass casualties. In any event, they cannot cause as many deaths as nuclear weapons.
In fact, it is quite possible that Iran could cause more Israeli deaths and destruction by firing 500 regular ballistic missiles at Israel at once, out of an inflated new and much larger volume of such weapons, than it could by working chemical or biological weapons into the mix.
Put differently, the cost to Iran of acquiring such weapons might be much higher than the potential benefit, unlike nuclear weapons, whose cost is potentially very high, but whose potential “benefit” of harm to Israel would also be very high.