The main nuclear-armed states and the nearly 200 states that have pledged not to acquire nuclear weapons were set to meet at U.N. headquarters in New York today for the 10th review conference of the world’s main non-proliferation treaty.
The 10th review conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) was set to last for most of August.
The NPT, in force since 1970, prohibits most of its 191 states parties from acquiring, possessing, or developing nuclear weapons, while forbidding the five-nuclear weapon states — China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States — from helping any other treaty government acquire such a weapon. The accord is considered the basis for the global nonproliferation regime and eventual nuclear disarmament.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken was to represent the U.S. in the early days of the meeting, which was originally scheduled to be held in 2020 but was twice delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The high-profile meeting was set to convene with the U.S. and Iran deadlocked about a return to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or Iran nuclear deal, that lifted sanctions on Tehran in exchange for a slowdown of the Islamic Republic’s domestic nuclear program, which though far advanced since the U.S. withdrew from the deal in 2018 had not yet produced a nuclear weapon as of Monday.
In a statement posted online Monday, President Joe Biden called on both Russia and China to come to the table for talks on a new treaty to replace bilateral U.S.-Russia New START treaty that caps deployable strategic nuclear weapons.
