Conference at UN to review nuclear nonproliferation treaty fails to reach agreement

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — A four-week United Nations conference reviewing the treaty to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons ended Friday without agreement because of what experts said was a dispute between the United States and Iran over Iran's nuclear program.

Vietnam's U.N. Ambassador Do Hung Viet, who chaired the conference, announced that there was no consensus among the 191 parties to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty on even a watered-down final document. He did not say which country or countries blocked a consensus.

It was the third failure in a row at a conference reviewing the NPT, considered the cornerstone of global nonproliferation and disarmament. At the last treaty review in August 2022, Russia blocked agreement on a final document over its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine and references to Moscow’s occupation of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest.

Tensions over Tehran’s nuclear program escalated ahead of the Iran war, which began with U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on Feb. 28. President Donald Trump has said the war was aimed at preventing Iran from building a nuclear weapon. Iran has enriched uranium to near weapons-grade levels but insists its program is only for civilian purposes.

The U.S. and Iran have clashed since the opening of the review conference on April 27. The U.S. accused Iran of showing “contempt” for its commitments under the treaty, while Iran said U.S. and Israeli attacks on its nuclear facilities violated international law.

Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Washington-based Arms Control Association, said differences over other potential deal-breaking issues — such as nuclear testing, disarmament and the impact of a nuclear explosion — were dealt with largely in favor of the five major nuclear powers: the U.S., Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom.

Kimball closely followed the conference, as did Britain’s Rebecca Johnson, founding executive director of the Acronym Institute for Disarmament Diplomacy. Before the failure to reach consensus was announced, both said the U.S.-Iran dispute was the main roadblock.

Iran is a party to the NPT, which requires countries to open all nuclear sites to inspection by the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency. But Iran has not given inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency access to nuclear sites that were bombed by the U.S. last June.