Digests and Blog

As diplomats in New York reach the end of the first week of the four week-long Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty Review Conference (NPT RevCon), the meeting is on schedule and on course but it remains highly uncertain whether they can navigate a safe course through a large array of contested issues to arrive at a consensus final document that bolsters and reaffirms support for the treaty and charts out concrete action step for the next five years.At the onset of the meeting, the United States delegation offered a lengthy objection to the nomination of Iran as a vice president of the conference…

*The Japanese language version of this essay will be published in the Peace Depot's journal "Voice for Peace"(See: http://www.peacedepot.org/dp_report_cat/info/)by Daryl G. Kimball, Executive DirectorSince the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) entered into force in 1970, the United States and Russia have negotiated agreements that have set verifiable limits on their deadly long-range nuclear arsenals and intermediate-range systems to mitigate the dangers of nuclear arms racing and nuclear war. The process has reduced nuclear dangers, reduced the size of their deadly arsenals and partially…

Inside ACAMay 2026The 1968 nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) has served as the essential framework and catalyst, albeit an imperfect one, for global efforts to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, end nuclear testing, and advance disarmament diplomacy to help achieve a world free of nuclear weapons. Since ACA’s founding in 1972, a key focus of our work has been to promote implementation of and compliance with the ambitious goals and objectives of the NPT.Five decades ago, in 1974, ACA and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace held a special conference in France to prepare for the…

As U.S. and Iranian negotiators consider returning to Islamabad for a second round of talks, it is clear that Washington and Tehran remain far apart on key nuclear issues. With pragmatic diplomacy and the political will to compromise, the United States and Iran can negotiate mutually acceptable provisions to address existing flashpoints, such as the disposition of Iran’s stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade level and the length of a moratorium on nuclear activities, particularly uranium enrichment. But the nonproliferation value of any nuclear limitations will be minimal…

April 17, 2026Delegations head to New York this month for a critical, month-long meeting to review implementation and compliance with the bedrock nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT). The conference will take place as nuclear dangers are on the rise, key treaties come under threat, and in the wake of the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran. These challenges, as well as disagreements that surfaced at the last review conference, held in 2022, will make it very challenging for states parties to produce a meaningful, consensus-based final outcome document.One issue at the center of debate is the…

March 11, 2026 (*updated March 15 with additional information on Iran's proposal)Less than 48 hours before the U.S. and Israeli coordinated strikes on Iran began on Feb. 28, U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner met with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Geneva for a third round of Omani-mediated talks aimed at reaching a nuclear agreement.Despite Omani Foreign Minister Badr bin Hamad Al Busaidi’s assessment that the United States and Iran made “substantial progress” toward a nuclear deal during the Feb. 26 talks and the agreement to …

Nuclear Disarmament MonitorFebruary 2026Following the Feb. 5 expiration of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), President Donald Trump and senior administration officials say the United States seeks multilateral talks that involve Russia as well as China as a means to make progress on nuclear arms control and risk reduction.Trump declined to take up a Russian proposal issued four months earlier by Russian President Vladimir Putin for each side to respect the central limits of New START for one year to maintain strategic stability and create time for negotiations on a new…

Inside ACAFebruary 2026For the first time in many decades, there are no legally-binding limits on U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals and there are no active negotiations to establish new nuclear arms control constraints.On Feb. 5, the day the 2010 New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty expired, President Trump posted on social media that: “Rather than extend New START … we should have our nuclear experts work on a new, improved, and modernized Treaty that can last long into the future.”Unfortunately, we’ve heard all this before. Beginning in 2019 and since taking office again in January 2025,…

 ACA Executive Director Daryl Kimball provides an expert commentary on the now unconstrained strategic nuclear arsenals of the United States and Russia in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.The expiration of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) this week means that the United States and Russia are now unconstrained and could soon begin increasing their strategic deployed arsenal by uploading additional warheads on existing missiles and bombers—for the first time in more than 35 years. The end of New START could also open a new phase of dangerous nuclear competition—one that…

Countryman's remarks begin at timestamp 27:25.Thomas Countryman on New START Expiry and the Value of Arms ControlFebruary 4, 2026Prior to New START’s expiration, ACA board chair Tom Countryman joined Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey, Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley, California Representative John Garamendi, ACA Executive Director Daryl G. Kimball, FAS Director of Global Risk Jon Wolfsthal, and Senior Fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis Lynn Rusten to urge the replacement of New START and a return to negotiations to prevent an new and more dangerous three-way arms race."I want to…