Tel Aviv: A major intelligence effort is underway to try and answer the question –Has Iran resumed its efforts to build an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) bomb?
Israeli sources say that at this point there is no solid indication that this programme has been restarted, and added that “all sensors will be used” to get a status report of this Iranian programme.
Iran has not developed a functional electromagnetic pulse (EMP) bomb, according to numerous sources. However, recent reliable reports suggest that the country was actively developing such a weapon until Israeli and US operations in mid-2025 destroyed its programme and killed a large portion of the scientific leadership behind it.
Multiple Israeli and American sources, including a Washington Post investigation, confirm that Iran’s efforts to develop an EMP weapon—intended to cripple Israel’s electronic infrastructure—were well underway, promoted by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as it would not violate religious prohibitions against nuclear weapons.
However, Israeli strikes during a recent 12-day conflict reportedly eliminated nearly all of Iran’s senior physicists, destroyed the supporting facilities, and shattered Iran’s institutional knowledge required to build such advanced weaponry. As a result, experts now assess that Iran’s EMP programme has been effectively halted, and any potential rebuilding effort would take years and require substantial new expertise.
Prior to these events, some Western intelligence agencies and discussion panels had warned of the theoretical danger posed by a future Iranian EMP weapon, given Iran’s ballistic missile programme and nuclear ambitions.
An EMP bomb is a weapon designed to produce a sudden, intense burst of electromagnetic energy that can disrupt or damage electronic equipment and electrical systems over a wide area. EMP bombs can be nuclear or non-nuclear devices.
When detonated, an EMP bomb generates a rapid and powerful electromagnetic field. This field induces high voltages in electronic circuits and electrical grids, often causing them to fail or become permanently damaged.
-The writer is an Israel-based freelance journalist. The views expressed are of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of Raksha Anirveda
