OneWorld.net (U.S.)

Washington DC – Provocative statements on handling the threat from Iran made at last week’s G.O.P. presidential debate reveal a reckless attitude towards nuclear weapons, experts at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation reiterated today.

When asked about the potential use of tactical nuclear weapons against Iran’s nuclear facilities, Duncan Hunter, Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, and Jim Gilmore each stated that they would “not take the option off the table.”

Leonor Tomero, director of nuclear non-proliferation at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, stated: “When four of the candidates agree that as president they would use a nuclear weapon against Iran to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, they are out of touch with both the destruction nuclear weapons cause and the American public, who would be horrified by instant images of a brand new Hiroshima.”

Guy Stevens, chief operating officer at the Center, emphasized: “The use of nuclear weapons in any circumstance is abhorrent and the offensive use of any nuclear weapon is morally indefensible. Even the smallest nuclear weapon would cause extensive civilian casualties and the effects on the environment would be catastrophic.”

Since 1978, U.S. policy has pledged not to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear-weapon states that are members of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), unless the non-nuclear state acts as an aggressor and is associated with a nuclear-weapons power. Although the U.S. maintains that these assurances are not legally binding but more political in nature, the five permanent (P-5) nuclear powers reaffirmed their pledges at the U.N. Security Council in 1995.

Tomero concluded: “For a U.S. president to threaten to use a nuclear weapon under any circumstance other than to stop an imminent threat of a greater loss of life is morally wrong and would gravely endanger our national security by encouraging nuclear proliferation. The U.S. should lead the world in strengthening and verifying global non-proliferation commitments so future generations of Americans will not have to fear these Cold War relics.”

Founded in 1980, the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation is a leading advocate for prudent measures to prevent the spread of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons. Visit the Center online at http://armscontrolcenter.org.