South Africa supplies Iraq or Iran nuclear weapons during the 1980s

Could South Africa supply either Iraq or Iran during the 1980s. The know-how to build a nuclear weapon in exchange for oil
 
Maybe there is a way for South Africa to be more of an international pariah during the 80s after all...
 
Given Sth Africa only built 6 or so HEU bombs at great political and financial expense I seriously doubt it, nukes are a nations crown jewels, not some commodity to be bought and sold.

However if they did, they wouldn't do it for something so pedestrian and commonplace as oil, which Sth Africa can get elsewhere on the open market. It would have to be for something as hard to come by and massively important as a nuclear weapon. Perhaps a squadron of these:
IRIAF-F-141-900x350.jpg
 
Well, there’s a way to get U.N. Security Council approved unanimous sanctions on the RSA with Reagan and Thatcher doing an insta-180.

That might even cause an armed intervention. I’m not sure people realize what a thick black line it would be crossing to sells nukes to Iran or even Iraq during the height of the Cold War.
 
However if they did, they wouldn't do it for something so pedestrian and commonplace as oil, which Sth Africa can get elsewhere on the open market. It would have to be for something as hard to come by and massively important as a nuclear weapon. Perhaps a squadron of these:
Would they take MiGS or Mirages ?

Well, there’s a way to get U.N. Security Council approved unanimous sanctions on the RSA with Reagan and Thatcher doing an insta-180.
Could they keep it a secret or is it likely to be leaked?
 
Could they keep it a secret or is it likely to be leaked?

It’s extremely easy to trace where a nuke came from through nuclear forensics if you have fallout samples. If it is tested or used (and it will be if they give it to either side in the Iran-Iraq War, absolutely no question), the U.S. will know where it came from in a matter of hours.
 
Yes! Exactly!

US tech would quite easily track it.

Yeah. Depending on where the ore was mined and which reactor/centrifuge it was refined in, it will produce different trace elements after fission/fusion, forming a unique fingerprint. That’s every bit as good as a DNA match for determining who it belongs to.
 
Would not South Africa the lose the remaining relations it had with the West and Africa?

Oh, that is an *understatement*, especially given the guarantee that either side they sold it to would use the bomb. Iraq was in existential crisis (they sued repeatedly for peace from 1982 onward, which Tehran rejected because they wanted to conquer the whole country). If they had the capacity to nuke Tehran, they’d do it in a heartbeat. Likewise for Iran. If they were handed a deus ex machina weapon to beat Saddam, conquer the whole country, create a continuous Shiite power bloc of Iran, Iraq, and Syria that would let them base troops on the Golan Heights, there’s no way they could resist the temptation.
 
That would massively piss off both the United States and the Soviet Union. Extremely well funded black rebellions would appear overnight.
 
Maybe it wouldn't be all bad.

Once it becomes known that Sth Africa has sold a nuke, that worked in combat, all the crazies would be beating a path to her door and throwing everything they have to get a nuke which would basically end the economic sanctions. The nuclear powers may try to use force to stop Sth Africa selling more nukes, but likely they will have to use positive incentives to stop her, like bringing her back into the fold of nations and ending the embargoes etc.
 
That would massively piss off both the United States and the Soviet Union. Extremely well funded black rebellions would appear overnight.

In addition to Israel, who wouldn't be too happy to see the nukes they helped develop (by selling SA tritium and whatelse) supplied to their enemies.
One of the few friends they had left and that would more than likely pick some items from their bag of dirty tricks and retaliate.

Sorry, going through all this trouble requires a massive payout which neither Iraq nor Iran are able to give.
 
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