UN Chief warns nuclear proliferation accelerating, treaty under strain
By R Anil Kumar
New York, April 28, 2026. United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres warned on Monday, April 27, that nuclear proliferation is accelerating, raising concerns about a renewed global arms race.
Speaking at the opening of a meeting of states party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) at UN headquarters in New York, Guterres said the agreement is weakening as commitments remain unmet and trust declines, according to AFP.
“The treaty is fading, commitments remain unfulfilled, trust and credibility are eroding, and the impulses for proliferation are accelerating,” he said, calling for efforts to revitalize the pact.
Vietnam’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Do Hung Viet, who chairs the conference, said the gathering is unlikely to resolve the strategic tensions shaping the current global landscape. He stressed the need for “a balanced outcome” that reinforces core commitments and outlines practical steps to strengthen the treaty.
He warned that the conference’s outcome could have far-reaching consequences. “The success or failure of this conference will have repercussions far beyond these halls and beyond the next five years, as the prospect of a new nuclear arms race looms,” he said.
The two-week meeting comes amid rising geopolitical tensions, with uncertainty over whether participants can reach meaningful agreements.
Guterres has previously highlighted the risks. At the treaty’s last review in 2022, he warned that humanity was “one miscalculation away from nuclear annihilation.”
The NPT, signed by most countries worldwide except Israel, India and Pakistan, aims to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, promote disarmament and support the peaceful use of nuclear energy.
A recent report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) found that as of January 2025, nine countries, Russia, the United States, France, the United Kingdom, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea, possessed a combined 12,241 nuclear warheads.
The report said the United States and Russia hold nearly 90 percent of the global nuclear arsenal and have both launched extensive modernization programs in recent years.
