UN Nuclear Talks End Without Consensus

News Desk 

New York: United Nations (UN)  efforts to revive global consensus on nuclear disarmament ended without agreement on Friday, highlighting growing divisions among world powers and deepening concerns over a renewed global arms race.

After four weeks of negotiations at the UN headquarters, delegates participating in the review conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) failed to adopt a final consensus document, marking the third consecutive breakdown of the review process after similar failures in 2015 and 2022.

Conference president Do Hung Viet acknowledged the deadlock at the close of talks, saying negotiators were unable to bridge disagreements despite extensive consultations.

The collapse comes at a time when geopolitical tensions, wars, and strategic rivalries are reshaping global security calculations. Analysts warn that the inability of states to agree even on a diluted final text reflects the weakening authority of the international nonproliferation system.

Experts noted that the treaty itself remains in force, but repeated failures to reach consensus risk undermining its political credibility.

According to analysts, disagreements centered around references to Iran, North Korea, nuclear modernization programmes, and stalled arms control efforts between the United States and Russia.

Draft language concerning Iran’s nuclear activities was significantly softened during negotiations, while references to North Korea’s nuclear programme and calls for the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula were ultimately removed from later versions of the text.

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Negotiators also dropped direct calls for Washington and Moscow to negotiate a replacement for the expired New START Treaty, once regarded as the cornerstone of strategic arms limitation between the two largest nuclear powers.

Despite the watered-down language, disagreements persisted until the final session.

Disarmament advocates warned that nuclear-armed states are increasingly prioritizing strategic competition over arms reduction commitments.

International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) criticized nuclear powers for expanding arsenals and weakening global disarmament efforts.

The failure of the talks comes amid growing concern over military conflicts involving nuclear powers, deteriorating US-Russia relations, tensions in East Asia, and fears surrounding Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the world’s nine nuclear-armed states possessed more than 12,000 nuclear warheads as of January 2025, with roughly 90 percent controlled by the United States and Russia.

Several nuclear states are currently modernizing delivery systems, upgrading warheads, and expanding stockpiles, raising fears that decades of arms control progress may be eroding.

The NPT, which entered into force in 1970, remains one of the most widely supported international security agreements. However, countries including India, Pakistan and Israel are not signatories to the treaty, while North Korea withdrew from it in 2003.

Diplomats say the latest collapse of negotiations underscores the growing challenge of maintaining international cooperation on nuclear restraint in an increasingly fragmented global order.