UN watchdog warns of nuclear arms expansion

WASHINGTON - The United States and other major powers who insist on retaining atomic arsenals set an example that encourages others to follow suit, the head of the UN nuclear watchdog has said.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director general, Mohammed El Baradei, told a foreign policy school in Washington it was becoming harder to control the spread of nuclear weapons, despite international efforts.

His speech came as the permanent members of the UN Security Council, and Germany work to persuade Iran to abandon nuclear activities.

The West says Iran's programme is aimed at building weapons and Tehran says it is only for producing energy.

"Nukes breed nukes. As long as some nations continue to insist that nuclear weapons are essential to their security, other nations will want them," Dr El Baradei told graduates at Johns Hopkins University.

"When it comes to nuclear weapons, we are reaching a fork in the road.

"Either we must begin moving away from a security system based on nuclear weapons or we should resign ourselves to President (John F.) Kennedy's 1960s prediction of a world with 20 to 30 nuclear weapons states," he said.

Dr El Baradei said that as recently as a few decades ago, controls on nuclear technology and nuclear material was a sensible strategy for preventing nuclear proliferation.

But "security is no longer as simple as building a wall" and controls aimed at blocking nuclear technology transfers are "no longer enough" in a world in which advanced communications have made it easy to share knowledge, he said.

Eventually, efforts to control the spread of such weapons "will only be delaying the inevitable," he predicted.

Dr El Baradei challenged the graduates to help develop an "alternative system of collective security ... that eliminates the need for nuclear deterrence".

- REUTERS