Warren Buffett said the possibility of Iran acquiring a bomb would increase the risk of a catastrophic conflict, warning that the proliferation of nuclear weapons was making the world a more dangerous place.
Berkshire Hathaway’s chairman said the rise in the number of nuclear-armed states is fundamentally changing the global risk landscape and amplifying concerns he has expressed for decades about nuclear proliferation.
“We now have… nine countries,” Buffett said Tuesday on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “When we were two, we were very concerned about that… You’re not dealing with unstable people or anything like that. The ship turned.”
Buffett specifically pointed to rising geopolitical tensions around Iran and North Korea, suggesting that the potential presence of nuclear weapons in these regions significantly increases the risk.
“Think about how you would feel if North Korea got it and Iran wanted to get it,” he said. “In fact, the people who are most dangerous are the ones who are going to flip the switch and take their own lives, or who have put themselves through a lot of shame…I don’t know the answer to that, but I do know that…If Iran has a bomb, it’s going to be harder than if they don’t have it.”
The 95-year-old investor has long warned that expanding nuclear capabilities makes the worst-case scenario more likely. Asked what advice he would give to a U.S. president facing the issue of enriched uranium, Buffett sounded fatalistic about the long-term trajectory.
“I think that somehow… within the next 100 years, maybe 200 years, I don’t know, something will happen and it will be used,” he said. “And we can’t accept what’s there now.”
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