Nuclear treaty failure sets tone for summit

After a month of sharp debate, the conference ended Friday with a whimper: no consensus recommendations for strengthening the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the pact that has helped keep the lid on doomsday arms since 1970.

The failure comes at a time of mounting nuclear tensions around the world.

North Korea has pulled out of the treaty and says it is building atom bombs. Iran's nuclear fuel program raises questions about possible weapons plans. Arab states view Israel's nuclear arsenal as increasingly provocative. The conference had futilely debated proposals to address all these issues.

Many delegates also were disturbed over Bush administration talk of modernising the US nuclear force, and sought US reaffirmation of commitments made to disarmament steps at the non-proliferation conferences of 1995 and 2000.

Reuters adds: The United States and Israel represent the real nuclear threat to the world, not Iran, Tehran's chief envoy to the United Nations said on Friday after an abortive conference on controlling nuclear weapons.

Javad Zarif, Iran's ambassador to the UN, said the United States never intended to scrap its nuclear arsenal, despite promising to eventually disarm when it signed the 1970 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the landmark arms control pact.

Zarif, in an interview with Reuters, said Israel, which is widely believed to have nuclear weapons, was the threat to the Middle East region. "There is unanimity on the threat that is posed not only by Israeli nuclear weapons but by its aggressive policy (in general)," he said.