President Barack Obama became the first U.S. president to unequivocally commit the United States to a long-term goal of ridding itself and the world of nuclear weapons.
Obama spelled out a broad three-part plan:
– Changing U.S. nuclear strategy and working with Russia to further slash their stockpiles of warheads.
– Working to control the spread of weapons, including creating an international fuel bank to let non-nuclear powers get materials needed for nuclear power without developing the capacity to create material for weapons, as is feared in Iran.
– Starting a new international effort to secure from terrorists all the materials needed for nuclear weapons. He said his first step would be to downplay the United States’ nuclear weapons as the keystone of its defense.
“Today, I state clearly and with conviction America’s commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons,” he said to cheers from an audience of 20,000.
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