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UK denies breaching NPT by replacing nuclear missiles

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

London, Feb 6, IRNA
UK-Nuclear upgrading-NPT
The British government has denied that its plan to replace the country's Trident nuclear missiles breaches the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

"Renewing our minimum nuclear deterrent capability is fully consistent with all our international obligations, including under the NPT," Foreign Office Minister Kim Howells said.

"It is also consistent with our continuing commitment to work towards a safer world in which there is no requirement for nuclear weapons," Howells said in a written parliamentary reply published Tuesday.

Peace campaigners and environmentalists, quoting legal opinion, have accused the government of breaching its obligations to disarm if it goes ahead with its plan to upgrade its submarine-based nuclear deterrent.

But Howells insisted that the UK was "strongly committed" to the NPT, saying that it was the cornerstone of the nuclear non- proliferation regime.

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