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  "path": "/partner/un-nuclear-nonproliferation-talks-fail-npt",
  "publishedAt": "2026-05-23T03:49:35.000Z",
  "site": "https://nukta.com",
  "textContent": "\n\n\n\nFour weeks of UN negotiations to reaffirm nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament goals collapsed Friday, with the conference president saying he would not put the final document forward for adoption.\n\nIt marks the third consecutive failure of a review conference on the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, following similar breakdowns in 2015 and 2022.\n\n### Why did the UN nuclear nonproliferation talks fail?\n\nVietnam's Do Hung Viet, president of the conference, said that \"despite our best efforts, it is my understanding that the conference is not in a position to achieve agreement on its substantive work.\"\n\nThe exact reason for the failure was not immediately known. Negotiations had proceeded with low expectations over a repeatedly watered-down text, which negotiators ultimately could not adopt.\n\nAnalyst Richard Gowan of the International Crisis Group said before the outcome that the text had become \"less and less anchored in the realities of current conflicts and proliferation risks,\" including those posed by North Korea and Iran.\n\n### What was removed from the final NPT review text?\n\nThe latest version of the text seen by AFP on Friday contained only a bracketed statement that Tehran must \"never\" develop nuclear weapons, signaling persistent disagreement. References to Iran's \"non-compliance\" with its obligations, which appeared in the first draft, had been removed.\n\nAlso stripped out were expressions of concern about North Korea's nuclear program and any mention of the \"denuclearization\" of the Korean Peninsula.\n\nA direct call on the U.S. and Russia to begin negotiations on a successor to the New START treaty, which expired in February, was similarly dropped.\n\n### Who do experts blame for the failure of nuclear disarmament talks?\n\nSeth Shelden of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons said the majority of countries were working in good faith, but that \"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.\"\n\nThe five recognized nuclear-weapon states — the U.S., Russia, China, the U.K., and France — are obligated under Article VI of the NPT to pursue eventual disarmament. Still, critics say they continue to modernize and expand their arsenals in breach of that commitment.\n\n### How many nuclear warheads exist and which countries hold them?\n\nAccording to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, the nine nuclear-armed states possessed 12,241 nuclear warheads as of January 2025, with 90 percent in American and Russian hands.\n\nThe nine states are Russia, the United States, France, the United Kingdom, China, India, Pakistan, Israel, and North Korea. Some countries are modernizing their arsenals or increasing stockpiles. The NPT, which entered into force in 1970 and has been signed by nearly all states, has notable non-signatories including Israel, India, and Pakistan.",
  "title": "UN nuclear nonproliferation talks fail"
}