Can We End War and Abolish Nuclear Weapons?

May 18th, 2026 - by Basel Peace Office

Can We End War and Abolish Nuclear Weapons?
Progress at the 2026 NPT Review Conference
Basel Peace Office

(May 17, 2926) — States Parties to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) are entering the final week of the 2026 NPT Review Conference, which is taking place at the United Nations in New York from April 27-May 22. The NPT Review Conference comes at a difficult time for nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament. We are experiencing:

  • Armed conflicts involving nuclear armed and non-nuclear States, including Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine and the US-Israel military attacks against Iran;
  • A renewed nuclear arms race between the nuclear-armed States with new nuclear weapons being developed and nuclear weapons budgets being increased; N
  • An expanded reliance on nuclear deterrence with several additional non-nuclear States joining nuclear alliances, in particular Finland and Sweden joining NATO and Belarus rescinding it’s nuclear-weapon-free-status in order to host Russian nuclear weapons; and
  • Increasing concerns about the potential of additional States withdrawing from the NPT and developing nuclear weapons programs.

These issues are playing out in the NPT deliberations. Basel Peace Office has been actively engaged in the formal and informal deliberations in New York, including to advance a common security framework to end wars, reduce the risks of nuclear weapons being used, and help facilitate the global abolition of nuclear weapons.

Basel Peace Office Board Member Jonathan Granoff speaking at the United Nations. A proposal by Mr Granoff to end the war against Iran and strengthen the NPT, was outlined in a Newsweek article War Will Not Stop Iran’s Nuclear Threat, This Could, and presented to the NPT Review Conference on May 1 by Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament.

Basel Peace Office Board Member Jonathan Granoff speaking at the United Nations. A proposal by Mr Granoff to end the war against Iran and strengthen the NPT, was outlined in a Newsweek article War Will Not Stop Iran’s Nuclear Threat, This Could, and presented to the NPT Review Conference on May 1 by Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament.

Proposal to End the War and Strengthen the NPT
On April 25, Newsweek published War Will Not Stop Iran’s Nuclear Threat, This Could, an article by Jonathan Granoff, President of the Global Security Institute and Board Member of Basel Peace Office, outlining a proposal to end the war against Iran and strengthen the NPT.

The proposal, which was presented to the NPT Review Conference by Parliamentarians for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament (PNND), calls for the NPT to adopt comprehensive inspection safeguards, much like those in the Joint Cooperative Plan of Action and the Chemical Weapons Convention, and apply these to all non-nuclear weapons states parties to the NPT, not just Iran,”

“This would make the world safer, stop the next North Korea, and allow both the USA and Iran to rightfully claim a victory for the world,” asserted Bill Kidd MSP, PNND Co-President as he presented the proposal to the May 1 plenary meeting of the NPT. “It would also strengthen the legitimacy of the NPT regime by reinforcing its nonproliferation pillar.”

Proposal to End the War and Strengthen the NPT
On April 25, Newsweek published War Will Not Stop Iran’s Nuclear Threat, This Could, an article by Jonathan Granoff, President of the Global Security Institute and Board Member of Basel Peace Office, outlining a proposal to end the war against Iran and strengthen the NPT.

The proposal, which was presented to the NPT Review Conference by Parliamentarians for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament (PNND), calls for the NPT to adopt comprehensive inspection safeguards, much like those in the Joint Cooperative Plan of Action and the Chemical Weapons Convention, and apply these to all non-nuclear weapons states parties to the NPT, not just Iran,”

“This would make the world safer, stop the next North Korea, and allow both the USA and Iran to rightfully claim a victory for the world,” asserted Bill Kidd MSP, PNND Co-President as he presented the proposal to the May 1 plenary meeting of the NPT. “It would also strengthen the legitimacy of the NPT regime by reinforcing its nonproliferation pillar.”

Achieving Nuclear Abolition –
the Role of Common Security
The increase in armed conflicts around the world – and in particular those caused by aggression of nuclear armed States against non-nuclear States (e.g. Russia against Ukraine and USA/Israel against Iran) is increasing the reliance on nuclear deterrence, and making it less likely than ever that nuclear armed and allied States might unilaterally relinquish nuclear weapons and join the TPNW, for example. In order to build confidence in security without nuclear weapons, effective alternatives to nuclear deterrence are required, especially to prevent aggression.

Basel Peace Office joined PNND, World Federalist Movement-Institute for Global Policy and others at the NPT in promoting Common Security as an effective alternative to nuclear deterrence.

“The Common Security approach involves elevating diplomacy, cooperative leadership, conflict resolution and the rule of law,” said PNND Co-President Bill Kidd in his presentation to the NPT plenary on May 1 entitled A Nobel Effort: Parliamentary call for common security and nuclear disarmament. Amongst other things, common security involves “strengthening the roles of the UN General Assembly, International Court of Justice and International Criminal Court to prevent – and build accountability for – acts of aggression… In these ways we can replace the reliance on nuclear deterrence with reliance on common security.”

A number of concrete initiatives to better address aggression through law not war were discussed at the side event on May 5: Can Common Security replace Nuclear Deterrence? These included:

  • The proposal for an International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion on the legal limits to the use of the veto in the UN Security Council, in order to affirm the UN Charter prohibition on aggression (threat or use of force) and the prohibition of atrocity crimes (war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide);
  • Proposed improvements to the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court with regard to the crime of aggression;
  • Increased use of the International Court of Justice to resolve international disputes peacefully and to ensure compliance with international law, in particular law prohibiting aggression (See the LAW not War campaign).

The side event also included inspiring video presentations on common security (which you can watch) from Dr. Deepshikha Vijh, Executive Director, Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy, and Paul Ingram, Research Affiliate, Centre for the Study of Existential Risk. 

The common security framework was also advanced at the NPT through:

Articles including   Can “Common Security” Replace Nuclear Deterrence? published by the OnestNetwork, a news service covering the NPT Review Conference and other UN events and processes. 

For more on Basel Peace Office at the 2026 NPT Review Conference, please see Can we end the war against Iran and save the NPT? Basel Peace Office at the 2026 NPT Review Conference