US ready to cut nuclear weapons, says Obama

The White House Press Office released Monday a statement by President Barack Obama on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference, which took place in New York.

“Forty years after the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty entered into force, we have come together to answer a simple question with consequences for us all: as individual nations and as an international community, will we uphold the rights and responsibilities of all nations in order to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons?

“Over the coming weeks, we will see whether nations with nuclear weapons will fulfill their NPT obligations to move toward nuclear disarmament. Building on our new START Treaty with Russia and our Nuclear Posture Review, which reaffirms the central importance of the NPT, the United States is meeting its responsibilities and setting the stage for further cuts.

“We will see whether nations without nuclear weapons will fulfill their obligation to forsake them. History shows that nations that pursue this path find greater security and opportunity as an integrated member of the international community.

“Nations that ignore their obligations find themselves less secure, less prosperous and more isolated. That is the choice nations must make,” said Obama in the statement.