UN warns of unprecedented global nuclear arms race

The United Nations has raised alarm over the unprecedented pressure on the global nuclear non-proliferation regime, as significant countries openly debate the development of atomic weapons.

Rafael Grossi, the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told the Financial Times that tense relations between the US, Russia and China, as well as the conflict in the Middle East were putting unprecedented strains on the nuclear non-proliferation treaty signed in 1968 that aimed to limit the development of the world’s atomic arsenal.

“I don’t think in the 1990s you would hear important countries say, ‘well, why don’t we have nuclear weapons too?’” he said.

“These countries are having a public discussion about it, which was not the case before. They are saying it publicly. They are saying it to the press. Heads of state have referred to the possibility of rethinking this whole thing.”

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has demonstrated the power of having nuclear weapons, but Grossi said there are several other factors contributing to the renewed interest in developing atomic weapons among some countries. 

“There are all these tensions, this possibility of alliances being weakened and countries having to fend for themselves. This is where the nuclear weapon factor, and attraction, comes back in a very unexpected way,” he said, while declining to name any specific countries. 

Since former US president Donald Trump unilaterally abandoned the 2015 nuclear accord Tehran signed with world powers, the Islamic republic has been aggressively expanding its nuclear programme and has been enriching uranium at 60 per cent purity, which is close to weapons grade, for more than three years.

It now has sufficient fissile material to produce about three nuclear bombs within weeks if it chose to, experts say, although it would take much longer to weaponise the material. 

Tehran insists its nuclear programme is for peaceful, civilian purposes. But in recent months as the Israel-Hamas war has triggered a wave of regional hostilities, Iranian officials have warned that the republic could change its doctrine if it felt threatened.

News.Az