NPT Conference Failure: Nuclear Weapons Control Regime Must Be Urgently Rebuilt

Editorial

14:00 JST, May 26, 2026

An international conference aimed at advancing nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation has ended in failure for the third consecutive time. This is a critical situation that risks further eroding the effectiveness of the nuclear control regime.

The review conference of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), held for about a month at the U.N. headquarters in New York, concluded without adopting a final document. It is a basic rule that the final document must be adopted unanimously, and the review conferences in 2015 and 2022 also failed to settle on a final document.

It is extremely regrettable that the NPT’s credibility has been severely damaged due to these three consecutive failures to adopt a final document.

At the conference, the United States sought to include explicit language prohibiting Iran from pursuing, developing and acquiring nuclear weapons, but Iran and Russia demanded these items be removed from the draft of the final document.

The draft contained language that could be interpreted as expressing concern over potential attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities by the United States and Israel, which also contributed to the failure of the conference.

What is shaking the NPT regime is not limited to the issues over Iran. In recent years, a trend has become rampant in which major powers attempt to force other nations to submit by brandishing their nuclear might, and the nuclear threat, which had declined following the end of the Cold War, is once again on the rise.

While the NPT allows the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France to possess nuclear weapons, it also obligates these five countries to engage in good-faith negotiations on nuclear disarmament. However, these nations are moving forward with building up their nuclear strength, running counter to disarmament efforts.

Furthermore, two of these nuclear powers, the United States and Russia, allowed their nuclear disarmament treaty, which had limited the number of nuclear warheads they could deploy, to expire in February.

Russia continues its aggression against Ukraine and repeatedly threatens to use nuclear weapons. Not only that, but during the NPT conference, it conducted large-scale military exercises with its ally Belarus that simulated the use of nuclear weapons.

Alarmed by Russia’s outrageous acts, Britain and France have shifted toward strengthening their nuclear arsenals.

It is necessary to establish a multilateral framework for nuclear disarmament, including China, which is rapidly increasing its nuclear warheads. At this month’s U.S.-China summit, U.S. President Donald Trump called on Chinese President Xi Jinping to engage in trilateral negotiations involving the United States, China and Russia, but Xi did not agree.

The NPT, which entered into force in 1970, is a crucial legal foundation for advancing nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation, with 191 countries and regions participating. The five countries allowed to possess nuclear arms certainly have a responsibility to work toward rebuilding the NPT.

At the very least, nuclear states must declare that they will not use nuclear weapons in preemptive attacks and strive to reduce nuclear risks.

It was only natural for the Japanese government to express concern at the conference regarding nuclear and missile development by North Korea, which has declared its withdrawal from the NPT. As the only nation to have suffered atomic bombings in war, Japan must continue to advocate for the importance of nuclear disarmament through the United Nations and other forums.

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, May 26, 2026)