In 1981, Israel destroyed Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor to prevent Saddam Hussein from developing nuclear weapons, but the attack instead pushed Iraq's program underground, spurred its resolve, and reinforced Saddam's view of Israel's nuclear capabilities as the main obstacle to Arab states. Iraq's goal was to acquire a nuclear weapon, partly as a means of confrontation with Israel.

Many years later, U.S. President Bill Clinton commented: “Everybody talks about what the Israelis did at Osirak in 1981, which I think, in retrospect, was a really good thing. You know, it kept Saddam from developing nuclear power.”