SEOUL: US President Barack Obama vowed yesterday to pursue further nuclear arms cuts with Russia, saying the US has more warheads than necessary, and issued stern warnings to North Korea and Iran in their nuclear stand-offs with the West.
Speaking ahead of a global nuclear security summit in South Korea’s capital, Obama held out the prospect of new reductions in the US arsenal as he sought to rally world leaders for additional concrete steps against the threat of nuclear terrorism.
“We can already say with confidence that we have more nuclear weapons than we need,” Obama told students at Hankuk University.
He pledged a new arms-control push with incoming Russian president Vladimir Putin when they meet in May. But any further reductions would face stiff election-year opposition from Republicans in Congress, who already accuse him of weakening America’s nuclear deterrent.
Obama laid out his latest strategy against the backdrop of continued nuclear defiance from North Korea and Iran, twin challenges that have clouded his overall nuclear agenda and the summit in Seoul.
He set expectations high in a 2009 speech in Prague when he declared it was time to seek a world without nuclear weapons. He acknowledged at the time it was a long-term goal, but his high-flown oratory helped him to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
In Seoul, Obama made clear that he was committed to that notion, saying “those who deride our vision, who say that ours is an impossible goal that will be forever out of reach”, were wrong.
Though Obama was vague on exactly how such a vision would be achieved, he voiced confidence that the Us and Russia, which reached a landmark arms-control treaty in 2010, “can continue to make progress and reduce our nuclear stockpiles”.
With US officials privately expressing concern about China’s opaqueness over its growing nuclear weapons programme, Obama said he had urged the rising Asian power “to join us in a dialogue on nuclear issues, and that offer remains open”.
Obama also used his speech to call on North Korea, which plans a long-range rocket launch next month, to curb its nuclear ambitions or face further international isolation.
“And know this – there will be no more rewards for provocations. Those days are over. This is the choice before you,” he said, directing his comments at North Korea’s leadership.
Earlier yesterday, Obama accused Iran of having taken the “path of denial, deceit and deception” in the past over its nuclear programme, but said there was still time for a diplomatic solution and that Tehran had to act with a sense of urgency. – Reuters
http://www.iol.co.za/the-star/obama-cautions-iran-n-korea-over-nuclear-weapons-1.1264346
http://www.iol.co.za/the-star/obama-cautions-iran-n-korea-over-nuclear-weapons-1.1264346
