By Country / Iran
El-Baradei Warns Powers On Spread Of Nuclear Weapons
May 26, 2006
IAEA Director-General Muhammad el-Baradei (file photo) (epa)
El-Baradei, who won the Nobel Peace Prize last year for his efforts to stem proliferation, said in a speech in Washington on May 25.
"Nukes breed nukes," el-Baradei said. "As long as some nations continue to insist that nuclear weapons are essential to their security, other nations will want them. There is no way around this simple truth. Here, too, the playing field will need to be leveled, one way or another."
El-Baradei warned that the continued development of nuclear weapons puts the world at risk of having 20 to 30 countries in possession of such weapons -- a condition predicted by former U.S. President John F. Kennedy in the 1960s.
El-Baradei gave his address to this year's graduating class of advanced international studies students at Johns Hopkins University in Washington.
(compiled from agency reports)