WITH A shared joke and a smile, the presidents of the US and Russia flourished their pens, consigned a swathe of nuclear weapons to the scrapheap of history, and sought to inject new life into relations between the White House and the Kremlin.
In the gilded splendour of Prague Castle, Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev yesterday signed a landmark treaty slashing their countries’ deployed nuclear arsenals by about one-third and stated a shared determination to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons – cranking up pressure on Iran over its controversial atomic programme.
“Today is an important milestone for nuclear security and non-proliferation, and for US-Russia relations,” Mr Obama said of a deal that replaces the expired 1991 strategic arms reduction treaty and which, he claimed, “set the stage” for further cuts in atomic weapons.
After a ceremony in Prague Castle’s Spanish Hall, Mr Medvedev insisted there were “no losers” in a pact that “fully reflects the interests of the United States and Russia”.
“I hope this signing will open a new page in relations between our countries,” he said, before revealing that the two leaders had discussed Iran’s nuclear ambitions earlier in the day. “Regrettably, Tehran is not reacting to a range of suggested constructive compromise agreements. We can’t close our eyes to this. That is why I do not exclude that the [UN] Security Council will have to examine this question again.”
Mr Obama went further, emphasising that the treaty demonstrated US and Russian commitment to not only slashing their own atomic arsenals but to taking action to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and material around the world.
“That’s why the United States and Russia are part of a coalition of nations insisting that the Islamic republic of Iran face consequences because they have continually failed to meet their obligations” under the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT), he said.
“We are working together at the United Nations Security Council to pass strong sanctions on Iran and we will not tolerate actions that flout the NPT,” Mr Obama added. “My expectation is that we are going to be able to secure strong, tough sanctions on Iran this spring.”
Mr Medvedev – whom Mr Obama would later toast for his “leadership and clarity” – said any sanctions must “not work against the Iranian people and lead to a humanitarian catastrophe”.
Earlier this week, the Obama administration declared that it would not attack a non-nuclear country unless that state was not adhering to the NPT – theoretically leaving open the option of a nuclear strike against the likes of Iran and North Korea.
As part of his drive to isolate Iran – which insists it only seeks atomic power, not weapons – Mr Obama will host a 47-nation summit next week on nuclear non-proliferation, and is expected to urge China’s president Hu Jintao to back a tougher line against against Tehran.
Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad – who this week branded Mr Obama a nuclear-armed “cowboy” – was defiant, insisting Iran would “try to make an opportunity out of sanctions” rather than change its atomic policy to avoid them. “We do not welcome the idea of threat or sanctions, but we would never implore those who threaten us with sanctions to reverse their sanctions against us,” an official Iranian news agency quoted him as saying.
Russia has considerable influence over Iran, having built but so far declined to launch a new nuclear reactor at the port of Bushehr. The Obama administration has sought during talks on the disarmament treaty to coax Moscow closer to its position on Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.
The pact was signed almost exactly a year after Mr Obama delivered a speech in Prague that made nuclear disarmament a key ambition of his presidency – a bold aim that the Nobel committee named as one of its reasons for giving him its peace prize last year.
The treaty allows the US and Russia no more than 1,550 deployed strategic warheads to compared to 2,200 at the moment, and no more than 800 deployed and non-deployed land-, air- and sea-based launchers.
The main sticking point during a year of talks on the treaty was Russia’s fear of a missile defence system that the US intends to build in central Europe. The Pentagon says the system will neutralise the threat of rocket attack from Iran, but Moscow believes it could ultimately undermine its nuclear deterrent. The Kremlin warned again yesterday that Russia could withdraw from the pact if it felt threatened by the US system.
Central and eastern European states have expressed concerns that their interests could be sacrificed to the US’s bid to “reset” relations with Russia. Mr Obama was expected to address those worries last night over dinner with 11 of the region’s leaders.