UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Monday evening that the world was “one step away from nuclear annihilation”, raising the specter of the Cold War as the US, Britain and France urged Russia to back off. . Its “nuclear rhetoric”.
Guterres spoke of the “worsening” crises in the Middle East, the Korean Peninsula and Ukraine facing Russia’s military operations and expressed his fear of escalation.
“We have been incredibly lucky so far. But luck is not a strategy and it does not protect against geopolitical tensions that escalate to the point of a nuclear conflict,” he said at the start of a conference of 191 signatories to the JCPOA. Non-Proliferation Treaty.
He added: Humanity today is an uncalculated step away from nuclear annihilation with a misunderstanding, considering that the world is facing an “unparalleled nuclear danger since the height of the Cold War”.
Pointing out that he will go to Hiroshima after a few days on the anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, he said: “Humanity is in danger of forgetting the lessons learned from the terrible bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.”
After several postponements from 2020 due to the Corona epidemic crisis, the 10th Review Conference of the Treaty on the Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, which entered into force in 1970, will be held at the United Nations on the 26th of this month. Headquarters in New York
Guterres considered this conference “an opportunity to consolidate this treaty and harmonize it with today’s world” and expressed hope that it will emphasize the non-use of nuclear weapons and also adopt “new commitments” to reduce arsenals.
He pointed out that “almost 13,000 nuclear weapons are stored in nuclear arsenals around the world, in a situation where the risks of nuclear proliferation are increasing and safeguards to prevent escalation have been weakened”, especially about the “crisis” in the Middle East. talked. Korean Peninsula and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
In January, the five permanent members of the Security Council (the United States, China, Russia, the United Kingdom, and France), which are also nuclear powers, pledged to prevent further proliferation of nuclear weapons before a new postponement of the nuclear deal. Conference on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and before the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
On Monday, the United States, Britain and France reiterated that commitment in a joint statement, stressing that “a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought.”
However, the three nuclear powers criticized Russia’s “illegal and unjustified war of aggression against Ukraine” and called on Moscow to respect its international obligations and “end its nuclear rhetoric and irresponsible and dangerous behavior.”
In a message released by the Kremlin, Russian President Vladimir Putin responded by saying that his country, which announced on February 24 that it had put its nuclear forces on alert before launching military operations in Ukraine, remains loyal to the country. The “text and spirit” of the treaty. He stressed that there are no “winners” in a nuclear war that “should never be launched”.
For his part, US President Joe Biden called on Russia and China to engage in talks aimed at limiting the spread of nuclear weapons, noting that Moscow should be held particularly accountable after the attack on Ukraine.
The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, whose signatories assess its good implementation every five years, aims to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons, promote complete disarmament, and promote cooperation for the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
However, at the last conference to review the treaty in 2015, the parties failed to agree on the main issues.
Source: Lebanon Debate
