As the United States and Iran sparred over Iran's nuclear program, a four-week United Nations summit reviewing the pact to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons came to an unresolved conclusion on Friday.
The conference was convened by Vietnam's UN ambassador, Do Hung Viet, who declared that the 191 parties to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty could not agree on even a compromised final draft.
Later, he stated at a press conference that "no one blocked consensus." However, he claimed that a clause in the final text stating that Iran "can never seek, develop or acquire any nuclear weapons" was "a very important reason" why an agreement could not be reached.At a conference assessing the NPT, which is regarded as the cornerstone of international nonproliferation and disarmament, it was the third consecutive failure. Due to its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and references to Moscow's seizure of the largest nuclear power facility in Europe, Zaporizhzhia, Russia prevented agreement on a final draft during the most recent treaty review in August 2022.
When the "elevated risk posed by nuclear weapons demands urgent action," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres apologised for the failure, according to spokesperson Stephane Dujarric. He urged all nations "to make full use of all available avenues of dialogue, diplomacy, and negotiation to reduce tensions, lower nuclear risks, and ultimately eliminate the nuclear threat."

Prior to the Iran conflict, which started on February 28 with US and Israeli bombings, tensions over Tehran's nuclear program increased. According to President Donald Trump, the goal of the conflict was to stop Iran from creating nuclear weapons. Iran maintains that its program is solely for civilian uses, despite having enriched uranium to almost weapons-grade levels.
Since the review conference began on April 27, the US and Iran have been at odds. Iran has claimed that US and Israeli attacks on its nuclear facilities violated international law, while the US has accused Iran of exhibiting "contempt" for its obligations under the pact.

Iran is a signatory to the NPT, which mandates that nations allow the UN nuclear watchdog organization to visit all nuclear facilities. However, Iran has refused to allow International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors to visit nuclear installations that the United States bombed in June of last year.
According to Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association in Washington, the United States demanded that Iran be listed in the result document due to its noncompliance with its NPT responsibilities, including inspections, and it was. He claimed that Iran opposed to being singled out and demanded that the US and Israel be denounced for violating the NPT by striking its nuclear sites, but that was left out.

The United States referred to Iran as a "prolific treaty violator" and claimed that it had spent the conference "shirking accountability for its grotesque violations" in comments given at the conclusion of the session. Iran said that the United States and its allies were engaged in a "relentless campaign" to justify their "unlawful attacks" on the nation and its nuclear installations.
Kimball stated the meeting "showed that rhetorical support for the NPT is strong, but the foundations of the NPT are cracking due to inaction, inattention, and intransigence on the part of the major powers."
"Much more enlightened, engaged, and pragmatic leadership and diplomacy will be needed to guard against the growing risks of an unconstrained nuclear buildup, threats to resume nuclear testing, and the risk of a nuclear-armed Iran," Kimball stated.Britain's Rebecca Johnson, founding executive director of the Acronym Institute for Disarmament Diplomacy, had harsh criticism for both the US and Russia, the two largest nuclear powers, which she said "double down on nuclear threats, blame others and try to undermine or ignore the NPT's nuclear disarmament commitments and related agreements," including on nuclear testing.