Nuclear nonproliferation treaty conference ends without agreement News
Nuclear nonproliferation treaty conference ends without agreement

[JURIST] A two-week UN conference [official website] to toughen the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons [text] failed to reach any agreement Friday, as the United States and Iran traded accusations of bad faith. The US and its allies said Iran stalled the process by objecting to a phrase emphasizing the "need for full compliance" with the treaty, a phrase which might have allowed countries to take Iran to task for defying the UN Security Council on uranium enrichment. Chief Iranian representative Ali Ashgar Soltanieh, said in turn that the US and its allies had violated the treaty for failing to meet their obligations to disarm.

Iran [JURIST news archive] says that it is pursuing nuclear capabilities solely for use in producing electricity [materials, PDF], a use allowed under the treaty. The US and its allies, however, suspect Iran of working to develop nuclear weapons. AP has more.