Barack’s call to axe nukes
BARACK Obama yesterday made a historic call for a new world order without nuclear weapons.
As Gordon Brown watched on, the US President demanded a halt to the spread of nuclear arms, a boost for disarmament and more efforts to lower the risk of “nuclear terrorism”.
His resolution was unanimously adopted by the UN Security Council’s four other permanent members – the UK, China, Russia and France – and 10 elected member countries. It comes amid growing fears over Iran’s controversial nuclear plans and a day after Mr Obama’s debut UN speech, in which he warned of a nuclear arms race.
The President said: “The historic resolution we just adopted enshrines our shared commitment to a world without nuclear weapons, and it brings Security Council agreement on a broad framework for action to reduce nuclear dangers.
“We now face proliferation of a scope and complexity that demands new strategies and new approaches. Just one nuclear weapon exploded in a city could kill hundreds of thousands of people.”
Mr Brown, who used his speech to the Security Council to announce he was decommissioning one of Britain’s four Trident nuclear submarines, said the world should consider “far tougher sanctions” against Iran if it continues to seek a nuclear bomb.
He said: “As evidence of its breach of international agreements grows, we must now consider far tougher sanctions together.”