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.
