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It seems Washington needs to be reminded of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty

Bulletin, By Olamide Samuel | Analysis | April 16, 2026

After more than 40 days of US-Israeli strikes on Iran and Iranian retaliation across the Middle East, Pakistan helped broker a fragile two-week ceasefire announced on April 7, alongside a temporary re-opening of the Strait of Hormuz and a promise of direct talks in Pakistan the following week. The ceasefire created just enough diplomatic space for the highest-level direct negotiations between the United States and Iran in recent memory.

But when the Islamabad talks collapsed after 21 hours of diplomacy on April 12, Washington almost immediately went back to coercion, with President Donald Trump threatening a blockade of Iranian ports and more strikes.

The fact that both sides agreed to talk, even momentarily, demonstrates their recognition that military escalation and economic coercion could very well spiral out of control and result in severe and unforeseen consequences………………………..

It is quite perplexing that a significant part of what Washington demands of Tehran has already been written into a treaty Iran signed a long time ago—the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), to which Iran is a non-nuclear-weapon state party since 1970. Although Tehran is to blame for Washington’s undermined confidence in the NPT, bombing Iran and issuing blockade threats won’t lead to a better non-proliferation arrangement. As state parties to the NPT will convene this month in New York for the treaty’s review conference, it’s about time to remind the Trump administration of the non-proliferation obligations Tehran already agreed to.

Existing obligations. The NPT strictly constrains Iran’s nuclear activities: Article II bars the acquisition of nuclear weapons, and Article III requires safeguards, limiting a state’s ability to “quickly achieve a nuclear weapon.” And even if Article IV affirms the rights of states to pursue the peaceful use of nuclear energy, it allows so only if that activity remains within the treaty’s non-proliferation obligations.

Of course, Washington has other demands that go beyond the NPT’s obligations. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Washington’s actions have consistently narrowed the already fragile space for Iranian cooperation with IAEA inspections at the very moment when more visibility and more access are needed. But when Vance now says Iran must renounce not only the bomb but also the “tools” that would allow it to move quickly towards one—tools that reportedly include enrichment capacity, major nuclear facilities, and highly enriched uranium stockpiles—he is in effect describing the function the JCPOA once served, albeit in more maximalist form. That 2015 agreement was designed to lengthen breakout time, constrain enrichment, and make the restraint verifiable. The UN Security Council had endorsed that agreement, and Iran was complying with it until the first Trump administration unilaterally walked away from it in 2018…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. https://thebulletin.org/2026/04/it-seems-washington-needs-to-be-reminded-of-the-nuclear-non-proliferation-treaty/?utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Washington%20needs%20to%20be%20reminded%20of%20the%20Nuclear%20Non-Proliferation%20Treaty&utm_campaign=20260416%20Thursday%20Newsletter

April 20, 2026 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics international, USA