In a first, US will disclose how many nuclear weapons it has
Hillary Clinton made the announcement during a UN conference on nonproliferation. The move toward transparency is part of Obama’s quest for a nuclear-weapons-free world.
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In remarks to reporters shortly after her UN speech, Clinton said that disclosing the information should reinforce an atmosphere of transparency that will be necessary for disarmament to proceed. Administration officials had a heated debate on the decision, she acknowledged, but details are well known by outside experts anyway, she added.
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Earlier, during her speech, Clinton deplored the NPT’s lack of universality: Three US partners – India, Israel, and Pakistan – are nonsignatory countries. But she saved her harshest words for Iran. She accused Mr. Ahmadinejad of “wild accusations” against the US “and others,” but she predicted that “Iran will not succeed in its efforts to divide” NPT countries.
“Iran is the only country represented in this hall that has been found by the IAEA [the UN’s nuclear watchdog agency] ... to be currently in noncompliance with its nuclear-safeguard obligations,” she said.
Taking a small step down the road toward a nuclear-weapons-free world, Clinton also announced that the US will seek to join itself to regional nuclear-free zones in Africa and the South Pacific. The US would agree not to test atomic weapons in those zones and would commit to never using or threatening to use nuclear weapons against countries in those zones that are abiding by their treaty commitments.
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The Monitor's View: Iran's Ahmadinejad at NPT conference: Can Obama cut a nuclear deal with him?
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