Twenty-five years after its adoption, the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty has made the world a safer place, experts say, despite never being ratified and concerns over North Korea.

The Americans conducted the world's first nuclear test in the desert of New Mexico on July 16, 1945.

Between then and September 24, 1996, when the treaty opened for signature, more than 2,000 nuclear tests were carried out, says Robert Floyd, head of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), a UN body.

Since September 24, 1996 there have been only a few dozen tests, carried out by India, North Korea and Pakistan.

Nevertheless eight nuclear powers, including China, North Korea and the United States have refused to ratify the landmark treaty, preventing it from entering into force and despite increasing pressure, there is little sign that they will change their minds, analysts say.

"We're in a much better place," insists Floyd, an 63-year-old Australian, during an interview with AFP in his bright office on the seventh floor of one of the UN towers in Vienna.

The accord has set a "global norm against testing," he adds. "The only country to test this century is North Korea."

To ensure the absence of nuclear tests, the CTBTO, which operates with an annual budget of around 111 million euros ($130 million), has set up more than 300 monitoring stations around the world, which are capable of detecting the slightest explosion in real time.

- 'Testing taboo' -

The treaty effectively stops nuclear proliferation "by making testing taboo," says Jean-Marie Collin of the French branch of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN).

A total of 170 countries have now ratified the accord, including nuclear powers Britain, France and Russia, on the grounds that they have sufficiently advanced simulation programmes.

Still missing are Egypt, India, Iran, Israel and Pakistan, as well as China, North Korea and the United States.

Floyd said he wanted to have "a conversation" with those states about "the pathway that we can have, to get from where we are now to a point where they would ratify and we could see, for all of humanity, a legally binding ban".

But he gave no further details about how he wants to overcome the long-entrenched impasse.

If the treaty comes into force, the CTBTO would have the power to carry out on-site inspections.

In Washington, no one since former US president Bill Clinton "has dared" to present the text to Congress because the Republicans formally oppose signing it, says Emmanuelle Maitre of the Foundation for Strategic Research.

For its part, Beijing says it is waiting for Washington.

"And it is difficult to see how North Korea could join the CTBTO if the United States and China do not do so", Maitre told AFP.

This January, another UN nuclear-related accord, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, came into force.

That agreement bans 54 nations who have ratified it from producing and even possessing nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices.

For Floyd, it is "a sign of the increasing frustration of non-possessor states wanting to see more progress on nuclear disarmament".

Iran FM says nuclear talks will restart 'very soon'
United Nations, United States (AFP) Sept 24, 2021 - Iran's foreign minister said Friday that stalled talks on the Iranian nuclear accord would resume "very soon" but the United States responded by saying it wasn't sure what timeframe Tehran had in mind.

The talks, brokered by the Europeans, seek the return of the United States to the 2015 agreement trashed by former president Donald Trump -- as well as Iran's return to full compliance.

"We are reviewing the Vienna negotiations files currently and very soon Iran's negotiations with the four plus one countries will recommence," Hossein Amir-Abdollahian told reporters in New York, referring to Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany.

"We see a constructive type of negotiation that will lead to tangible verifiable results in the foreign policy of the new government in Iran," the foreign minister added during a press conference on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

Asked what Amir-Abdollahian meant by "very soon," a senior Iranian official said on condition of anonymity that "it can mean a few days, it can mean a few weeks."

"As soon as we finish the review process, without any time to be wasted, we shall return to the negotiations table," the official said.

State department spokesman Ned Price said the US had heard the "message" of "soon and very soon" all week at the UN.

"But we have up until this point not received clarity on what precisely that means," he told reporters.

European nations are trying to kick start the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, that Trump pulled America out of in 2018. He reinstated sanctions on Iran that Washington had lifted as part of the agreement.

Since then, Tehran has also retreated from many of its commitments.

- US frustration -

Trump's successor Joe Biden has indicated he wants to return to the deal, but his administration has expressed impatience at the stalled talks.

A senior US official this week made clear Washington's frustration with Tehran over the absence of any "positive indication" it is prepared to return to the talks to "close down the remaining issues."

But Amir-Abdollahian pointed the blame at Biden's administration, accusing the White House of sending "contradictory messages" on reviving the deal.

"In the last few months, we have not seen an iota of positive action by the United States administration," he said.

Talks between Iran and the remaining five parties aimed at reviving the deal began in Vienna in April but have been suspended since June, when ultraconservative Ebrahim Raisi was elected president.

Hopes of reviving the deal were kept alive earlier this month when Iran agreed to a new compromise with the UN nuclear agency on the monitoring of its nuclear facilities.

European governments said they heard nothing concrete from Amir-Abdollahian during their meetings on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly this week.

But EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said he was hopeful.

"The prospects I think I can say are optimistic," he told reporters in New York.

Earlier Friday, Amir-Abdollahian told Iran's official IRNA news agency that Tehran was "not seeking to quit the negotiating table."

"We will certainly pursue a negotiation that serves the rights and interests of our nation," he said.

NATO calls for arms-control talks with China
Brussels (AFP) Sept 27, 2021 - NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg on Monday voiced concern over China's "expanding nuclear arsenal" and urged Beijing to engage in arms-control talks.

China is not a NATO adversary but it must "uphold its international commitments and act responsibly in the international system", he told Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in a videolink call, the Alliance said in a statement.

Stoltenberg "raised NATO's concerns over China's coercive policies, expanding nuclear arsenal and lack of transparency on its military modernisation," it said.

He stressed that "reciprocal transparency and dialogue on arms control would benefit both NATO and China".

The situation in Afghanistan, with which China shares a tiny stretch of border, was also raised, with the NATO secretary general saying there should be "a coordinated international approach, including with countries from the region, to hold the Taliban accountable for their commitments on countering terrorism and upholding human rights, not least the rights of women".

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EU says Iran ready to resume nuclear talks at 'early date'
Brussels (AFP) Sept 22, 2021
The European Union's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Wednesday Iran's top diplomat had assured him at their first meeting that Tehran was ready to restart talks on the nuclear deal soon. EU-mediated negotiations began in Vienna in April aimed at reviving a 2015 nuclear agreement between Tehran and world powers - an accord left hanging by a thread after former US president Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew in 2018 and ramped up sanctions. The discussions, which involve the remaining par ... read more