The 2026 NPT Review Conference
May 16, 2026
States Parties to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) are entering the final week of the 2026 NPT Review Conference, which is taking place at the United Nations from April 27-May 22. Basel Peace Office has been actively engaged, especially in the first two weeks.
The conference comes at a difficult time for nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament, with armed conflicts involving nuclear armed and non-nuclear States (Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the US-Israel military attacks against Iran); a renewed nuclear arms race between the nuclear-armed States; increased reliance on nuclear deterrence with several non-nuclear States joining nuclear alliances (Finland and Sweden joining NATO and Belarus rescinding it’s nuclear-free-status in order to host Russian nuclear weapons); and increasing concerns about additional break-out from the NPT.
The US-Israel military attacks against Iran, in particular, pose a critical test for the NPT.
From the US/Israel perspective, the NPT has failed to prevent Iran’s civilian nuclear research and energy program from being used to advance ambitions to produce a nuclear bomb. From the Iranian perspective, being a member of the NPT and agreeing to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards has failed to protect them from hypocritical military attacks from two nuclear-armed States, neither of which accept IAEA safeguards.
This could lead Iran to withdraw from the NPT, just as North Korea did in 2003. Such an action might stimulate other counties in the Middle East (such as Saudi Arabia) to also leave the NPT, followed by a cascade of other countries such as Turkey, South Korea and Egypt. This would put the NPT in extreme peril. (See What if Iran withdraws from the NPT, Bulletin of Atomic Scientists).
PNND proposal on Iran and the NPT
On May 1, Bill Kidd MSP, Co-President of Parliamentarians for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament (PNND) addressed a plenary session of the NPT Review Conference, at which he submitted a proposal developed by Basel Peace Office Board Member Jonathan Granoff, and made public in the Newsweek article War Will Not Stop Iran's Nuclear Threat, This Could.
“The proposal calls for the NPT to adopt comprehensive inspection safeguards, much like those in the Joint Cooperative Plan of Action and the Chemical Weapons Convention, and apply these to all non-nuclear weapons states parties to the NPT, not just Iran,” said Mr Kidd. “This would make the world safer, stop the next North Korea, and allow both the USA and Iran to rightfully claim a victory for the world. It would also strengthen the legitimacy of the NPT regime by reinforcing its nonproliferation pillar.”
Mr Granoff says that although the proposal does not directly address the NPT obligation of the nuclear weapon States to achieve nuclear disarmament. “Stopping a war and saving the unique legal instrument that obligates the P5 to achieve nuclear disarmament is worth our efforts.”
Common security approach to nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament
Mr Kidd notes that the above proposal, and the related proposal for a Middle East Zone Free from Nuclear Weapons and other Weapons of Mass Destruction, are examples of a common security approach to nuclear non-proliferation that also serves nuclear disarmament.
“This approach involves elevating diplomacy, cooperative leadership, conflict resolution and the rule of law,” says Mr Kidd. Amongst other things, it involves “strengthening the roles of the UN General Assembly, International Court of Justice and International Criminal Court to prevent - and build accountability for - acts of aggression… In these ways we can replace the reliance on nuclear deterrence with reliance on common security.”
Basel Peace Office and PNND have been further promoting this common security approach at the 2026 NPT Review Conference through statements, side events and media promotion. These statements included Common Security as a credible alternative to nuclear deterrence, presented to the NPT Plenary by Kehkashan Basu, A Nobel Effort: Parliamentary call for common security and nuclear disarmament, presented to the NPT Plenary by Bill Kidd MSP and the joint statement Common Security v. Nuclear Weapons: How to replace the current reliance on nuclear deterrence with sustainable security for all, endorsed by of 165 civil society organizations from 33 countries.
Our side event on May 5 entitled Can Common Security replace Nuclear Deterrence? facilitated deeper dialogue on the issue. Two of the presentations at the event are available on video – those of Dr. Deepshikha Vijh, Executive Director, Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy, and Paul Ingram, Research Affiliate, Centre for the Study of Existential Risk.
Our statements and events stimulated some media reports on the common security framework and the NPT, including Can we end war and abolish nuclear weapons? Promoting LAW not War at the NPT Review Conference published by UNFOLD ZERO, and Can “Common Security” Replace Nuclear Deterrence? published by the OnestNetwork, a news service covering the NPT Review Conference and other UN events.
Timebound commitment to the elimination of nuclear weapons
Basel Peace Office has also been very active during the NPT Review Conference promoting the norm (and legal obligation) on the non-use of nuclear weapons, implementation of this through the no-first-use policies, and building a commitment from the nuclear weapons and allied states to achieve the global abolition of nuclear weapons no later than 2045, the 100th anniversary of the UN.
The Nuclear Abolition Day Appeal which contains these calls, gained the support of 670 organizations and an additional 1400 notable individuals. Basel Peace Office has played key roles in developing and hosting the Nuclear Aboliton Day website, drafting the appeal and circulating it for endorsement, arranging for its presentation to the NPT Plenary by NuclearAbolitionDay.org Core Team Member Rebecca Shoot, and organising a follow-up event at the NPT on promoting the calls between now and the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons (September 26).
Traction has been made on some of these calls, as evidenced by their inclusion in the Draft outcome document released by the President of the NPT Review Conference on May 13. This includes reaffirming the norm of non-use of nuclear weapons and the call for adoption of no-first-use policies (See NPT Zero Draft calls for No-First-Use policies).