UK Sets Out Blueprint For Nuclear Weapons

The West suspects Tehran is using a civilian programme as a cover to make nuclear arms, which Iran denies.

Britain set out a six-point plan on Wednesday for a nuclear free world, at a time when global powers fear Iran will produce a bomb and Barack Obama's inauguration has renewed interest in disarmament.

The British document calls for watertight measures to stop terrorists or emerging states getting atomic weapons, deeper cuts in U.S.-Russian nuclear arsenals and the activation of a global nuclear test ban treaty.

"Although the challenges are considerable, progress on these six steps would mark a decisive break from the deadlock of the past decade," Britain's Foreign Office said in a policy document. [nL3749779]

Britain is putting its ideas forward as Obama is expected to propose deep negotiated cuts in U.S. and Russian nuclear missiles and in preparation for the 2010 review conference of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the pact that aims to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband said it was a "critical moment" for efforts to halt the spread of nuclear arms because "more people and more countries are seeking the ultimate weapon", he said, mentioning the Iranian and North Korean nuclear programmes.

"But we are also at a moment of opportunity," he said at an event to launch the paper, called "Lifting the nuclear shadow".

Britain launched the document as it and other powers met in Germany for the first talks on Iran's nuclear programme since Obama took office on Jan. 20. [nL4132852]

The West suspects Tehran is using a civilian programme as a cover to make nuclear arms, which Iran denies.

The six powers said they were committed to a diplomatic solution and welcomed Obama's offer to talk directly to Tehran.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown wants Britain to play a leading role in promoting nuclear disarmament, but at the same time his government plans to spend up to 20 billion pounds ($28.50 billion) on a new fleet of nuclear weapons-armed submarines to replace the current fleet.

Miliband said Britain had already reduced its nuclear firepower by 75 percent but said he believed in multilateral, not unilateral, disarmament.

"If we went down a unilateral road ... would then Iran say: 'We won't bother to have our nuclear programme'? I don't believe the world works like that," he said.

Wyn Bowen, an expert on nuclear and security issues at King's College, London, said the British document was released as part of a "concerted effort to help shape the agenda ahead of the next NPT review conference".

It was a recognition that the issues of disarmament and strengthening safeguards against the spread of nuclear weapons would have to be addressed together if the conference was to make progress, he said.

Brown, unpopular at home because of the economy's woes but well-regarded abroad, is due to host a conference in March on cooperating with countries that want to develop a civilian nuclear energy industry.