Failure of UN talks on nuclear nonproliferation

After weeks of negotiations, signatory countries to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) once again failed to agree on priorities for the coming years, despite fears of a renewed arms race.

Following multiple revisions of a draft declaration already considered weak by disarmament advocates, the president of the 11th review conference of the treaty, viewed as a cornerstone of nonproliferation, threw in the towel, deciding not to present the text for adoption.

“I have presented four versions of the draft final document, all meticulously revised according to the wishes of the States Parties,” Vietnamese official Do Hung Viet said, expressing his “deep disappointment.” “Despite all our efforts, I understand that the conference is not in a position to agree on its substantive work,” he added, wryly noting that he had kept his promise to make “everyone equally unhappy.”

“The delegations share the goal of a world without nuclear weapons, a world in which the nuclear threat does not hang over our heads or those of our children, even if we differ on the path to achieving this objective,” he said. He then warned: “If we cannot agree on the path to take, we will never reach our destination.”

But while the five major nuclear powers party to the treaty, the United States, China, Russia, the United Kingdom and France, were accused of applying pressure during the negotiations, not everyone agrees with his assessment of a shared goal.

“The majority of countries are indeed working in good faith for disarmament … but a handful of states possessing nuclear weapons and some of their allies undermine the NPT, thwart disarmament efforts, increase their arsenals and drive proliferation, steering the world toward disaster,” Seth Shelden of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, charged Friday evening.

Foundations “cracking”

According to the latest report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri), the world’s nine nuclear-armed states, Russia, the United States, France, the United Kingdom, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea, possessed 12,241 nuclear warheads as of January 2025, with 90 percent in the hands of the United States and Russia. Against a backdrop of geopolitical tensions, concerns over growing nuclear capabilities are mounting.

Nevertheless, member states had before them Friday a text that had been repeatedly revised and substantially diluted.

With each revision, it became “less and less grounded in the realities of current conflicts and proliferation risks,” particularly regarding Iran and North Korea, Richard Gowan of the International Crisis Group told AFP earlier Friday.

The latest version of the text seen by AFP on Friday simply stated that Tehran must “never” develop a nuclear weapon. Gone was the mention of Iran’s “non-compliance” with its obligations, which had appeared in the initial draft declaration. Also removed were all references to North Korea, as well as a direct call for the United States and Russia to begin negotiations on a successor to the New START treaty, which limited Russian and American arsenals and expired in February.

The NPT, which entered into force in 1970 and has been signed by nearly all states except notably Israel, India and Pakistan, aims to prevent proliferation, promote complete disarmament and encourage cooperation on the peaceful use of nuclear energy.

This is the third consecutive time the review conference has failed to adopt a text, after being blocked by Russia in 2022 and notably by the United States in 2015.

Despite this latest setback, the treaty remains in force, but with a heightened risk of eroding legitimacy and trust, potentially leading some non-nuclear states to question whether nonproliferation remains the best guarantee of their security, according to experts.

“The foundations of the NPT … are cracking due to inattention, intransigence and incompetence,” said Daryl Kimball, head of the Arms Control Association, who called for “enlightened” leadership from Washington and other nuclear powers.