NEW YORK: Talks at the United Nations (UN) to reaffirm nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament goals failed on Friday, according to the leader of the talks, after four weeks of negotiations held amid low expectations. Vietnam&#39;s Do Hung Viet, the president of the conference, said that &quot;despite our best efforts... it is my understanding that the conference is not in a position to achieve agreement on its substantive work.&quot; &quot;I do not intend to put the document forward for adoption,&quot; he added. Negotiators were reviewing the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), the cornerstone of nuclear weapons control, amid fears of a renewed arms race. Previous reviews in 2015 and 2022 were also unsuccessful. With expectations low, participants negotiated over a repeatedly reviewed and watered-down text, which they ultimately failed to adopt. Experts pointed out that even in the absence of a review agreement for the third time in a row, the treaty continues to exist, but with diminished legitimacy. &quot;The text keeps on becoming less and less anchored in the realities of current conflicts and proliferation risks,&quot; including North Korea and Iran, analyst Richard Gowan of the International Crisis Group said before the outcome was announced. The latest version of the text seen by AFP on Friday merely stated that Tehran must &quot;never&quot; develop nuclear weapons. The paragraph was in brackets, signaling persistent disagreement, despite the removal of the reference to Iran&#39;s &quot;non-compliance&quot; with its obligations that appeared in the first draft. Also gone were expressions of concern about North Korea&#39;s nuclear program, or even any mention of the &quot;denuclearization&quot; of the Korean Peninsula. Gone as well was the direct call on the United States and Russia to begin negotiations on a successor to the New START treaty limiting Russian and American arsenals, which expired in February. The diluted text still covered &quot;the risk of a resumption of nuclear testing by Russia, China and the United States, the growth of arsenals, and attacks on nuclear infrastructure,&quot; Heloise Fayet of the French Institute of International Relations said earlier on Friday. Exactly why the review failed isn&#39;t yet known. &quot;The majority of countries are indeed working in good faith for disarmament,&quot; said Seth Shelden of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), commenting on the failure of the talks. &quot;But the small handful of nuclear-armed states, and certain of their allies, are undermining the NPT, frustrating disarmament efforts, expanding arsenals and provoking proliferation, and pointing the world toward catastrophe,&quot; he added. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the nine nuclear-armed states possessed 12,241 nuclear warheads in January 2025, 90% of which were in American and Russian hands. Some countries are modernizing their arsenals or even increasing their stockpiles. The NPT, which entered into force in 1970 and has been signed by almost all states, aims to prevent proliferation, promote complete disarmament and encourage cooperation for the peaceful use of nuclear energy.

Americas

UN talks to reinforce nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament fail after four weeks, with negotiators unable to reach agreement on a revised treaty text amid divisions over nuclear weapons policy.

UN nuclear nonproliferation talks fail after month-long negotiations

MOSCOW: Russia on Tuesday tested a new long-range missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads, months after the last treaty with the United States limiting their atomic arsenals lapsed.&nbsp;The ending of the New START agreement in February formally released the world&#39;s two largest nuclear powers from a raft of restrictions.&nbsp;&quot;This is the most powerful missile system in the world,&quot; claimed Russian President Vladimir Putin after receiving a report of a successful launch of Sarmat, an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).&nbsp;He said the missile could carry a warhead more than four times more powerful than anything Western militaries possessed, adding that Sarmat would be on &quot;combat duty&quot; by the end of this year.&nbsp;Even though Moscow and Washington agreed to reestablish high-level military dialogue shortly after New START expired, there were no immediate signs of renewing or prolonging it.&nbsp;US President Donald Trump has repeatedly pressed for a new treaty to include China, whose arsenal is growing but still significantly smaller than those of Russia or the US, but Beijing has publicly rejected the pressure.&nbsp;Trump had been mostly silent on Russian calls to extend New START, which was signed in 2010 and imposed the last restrictions on Moscow and Washington after decades of agreements dating from the Cold War.&nbsp;Both countries have repeatedly accused each other of failing to adhere to the agreement.&nbsp;Sarmat, referred to as &quot;Satan II&quot; in NATO designation, is the first ICBM produced in post-Soviet Russia to be classed as &quot;super heavy&quot;.&nbsp;Put said it was capable of travelling 35,000 kilometers (22,000 miles).

Europe

Russia tested a new Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads after the New START treaty with the US expired. Putin said it is the world’s most powerful missile, entering combat duty soon.

Articles tagged with "nuclear warheads"

UN nuclear nonproliferation talks fail after month-long negotiations

Russia tests long-range missile after US nuclear treaty expires

UN nuclear nonproliferation talks fail after month-long negotiations