Produced by the Monterey Institute's Center for Nonproliferation Studies

Updated March 2006
 

Chemical Weapons (CW)

During World War II, it appears that all sides refrained from significant use of CW for fear that its enemies might retaliate in kind, although other factors also played a role. After the advent of nuclear weapons, however, the potential impact of CW use diminished. The United States assumed that if a major war erupted in Europe between itself and the Soviet Union, that war would rapidly escalate into the use of small, and then larger, nuclear weapons. Such a nuclear exchange would have vastly overshadowed any threat posed by Soviet CW use.

Some countries, however, may see CW as a potential counterweight to nuclear weapons in the hands of a potential enemy. Syria, for example, has an extensive CW arsenal and missile delivery systems. It undoubtedly believes that this potential would make Israel more cautious about using its nuclear weapons against Syria in a possible future war.

Biological Weapons (BW)

To date, no cases of deterrence with biological weapons (BW) are known, but they may emerge in the future. Iraq possessed BW at the time of the 1991 Gulf War, but it did not disclose this fact. Iraq may have planned to launch BW-armed missiles against Israel and other U.S. allies in the Middle East if the United States invaded Iraq and threatened to depose Saddam Hussein. It is likely that Iraqi BW capabilities made Iran reluctant to fight Iraq in the future. This may, in turn, be a major factor leading Iran to pursue research in this area.