Anti-nuclear campaign group argues recent US-Iran agreement shows nuclear weapons failed to provide strategic leverage.
Image: Al Monitor
The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) has said that nuclear arsenals held by the United States and Israel provided no strategic advantage during the recent Middle East conflict and subsequent peace framework agreement involving Iran.
In a statement issued in Geneva, ICAN said the US-Iran framework deal aimed at ending the war demonstrates that nuclear weapons do not guarantee security or diplomatic leverage. The agreement, signed between US President Donald Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, is intended to halt hostilities and pave the way for further negotiations on Iran’s nuclear programme and sanctions relief.
ICAN noted that Israel remains the only country in the Middle East believed to possess nuclear weapons, estimating its arsenal at around 90 warheads, while also pointing out that it is not a member of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) or the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).
The group argued that the conflict showed nuclear-armed states failed to gain an upper hand, stating that the outcome challenges long-held assumptions about nuclear deterrence. It added that Iran, as a non-nuclear-weapon state under the NPT, remains legally bound not to develop nuclear weapons and is already subject to international safeguards.
ICAN urged governments to reassess the role of nuclear weapons in global security, saying the war underscores their risks rather than their strategic value, and called for renewed efforts toward disarmament and international arms control.
