Nuclear specter

• Israel and the US announced a ceasefire after a 12-day intense missile barrage and air attacks on Iran.

• The attacks, initially a pre-emptive strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities, escalated into a full-fledged war involving U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear installations.

• The attacks highlight the fragility of the international order, threatened by escalating nuclear risks from West Asia, Ukraine, and the Indian subcontinent.

• Iran’s actions could lead to its withdrawal from its commitments to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and use them as a deterrent.

• Any step Iran takes could be used to justify further aggression by Israel and the U.S., rejecting international laws and the NPT’s nonproliferation norm.

• Israel’s hypocrisy, remaining a non-signatory to the NPT, raises the possibility that it values nuclear weapons for their destructive potential.

• The renewed “competition among the great powers” and their cynical understanding of deterrence are dismantling global stability.

• Without a renewed diplomatic impetus to reestablish international norms on conflict, a stronger push for disarmament among all nuclear-armed states, and a firm commitment to uphold the NPT, the world risks a new era of nuclear brinkmanship.