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UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has urged the United States and Russia to negotiate a successor framework to the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, warning that the absence of binding limits on strategic nuclear arsenals is heightening global risks.
“The United States and the Russian Federation must negotiate a successor framework to New START,” Guterres said at a UN General Assembly plenary meeting marking the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons.
According to the UN chief, the New START Treaty expired earlier this year, leaving the world without binding limits on US and Russian strategic nuclear arsenals for the first time in more than half a century.
“This undermines not only the security of those who possess nuclear weapons, but the entire international community,” he said.
Concerns over expanding nuclear arsenals
Guterres said nuclear arsenals were being expanded and modernised, while advances in technology were increasing the possibility of mistakes and miscalculations.
“The rattling of nuclear sabers is growing louder. Advances in technology are increasing the odds of mistake and miscalculation,” he said.
He also cited the failure to reach a substantive consensus at the 11th Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, as well as the UN Disarmament Commission’s inability to produce substantive recommendations during its latest three-year cycle.
“These are not simply diplomatic disappointments — they are warning signs. And the lights are flashing red,” Guterres said.
He described nuclear disarmament as “a binding legal obligation” under the Non-Proliferation Treaty and called on all nuclear-weapon states to reduce the role of nuclear weapons in their security policies through confidence-building measures and greater transparency.
More than 12,000 warheads worldwide
UN General Assembly President Khalilur Rahman said the global inventory stood at more than 12,000 nuclear warheads as of January 2026.
Between 2,100 and 2,200 warheads are kept at a high level of operational alert on ballistic missiles capable of being launched at very short notice, he said.
“For the first time since the end of the Cold War, the global stockpile is expected to grow again, as new and more modern warheads enter arsenals faster than retired ones are dismantled,” Rahman said.
Global military expenditure reached nearly $3 trillion in 2025, marking the 11th consecutive annual increase, he added.
“As long as nuclear weapons exist, the danger of their use by design, by accident, or by miscalculation, will remain,” Rahman said.
He called the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons “the cornerstone” of international efforts to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and advance disarmament.
“Let us eliminate the weapons, and let us restore trust by building a world free from nuclear weapons,” he said.
Background on New START
New START was signed by the United States and Russia in Prague on April 8, 2010, and entered into force on February 5, 2011. It replaced the 1991 START I treaty, which expired in December 2009, and superseded the 2002 Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty, according to the US-based Arms Control Association.
