SIPRI: Global Nuclear Arsenals Expected to Grow amid Rising Global Tensions

Stockholm, June 13 (QNA) - The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) announced that nuclear arsenals are expected to grow over the coming decade as global tensions flare.
The Stockholm Institute said in its report issued Monday that despite a marginal decrease in the number of nuclear warheads in 2021, nuclear arsenals are expected to grow over the coming decade.
SIPRI said the global number of nuclear warheads fell to 12,705 in 2022 from 13,080 in 2021.
There are clear indications that the reductions that have characterized global nuclear arsenals since the end of the cold war have ended, and the risk of a nuclear escalation is now at its highest point, SIPRI said.
Despite the entry into force in early 2021 of the UN nuclear weapon ban treaty and a five-year extension of the US-Russian "New START" treaty, the situation has been deteriorating for some time, according to SIPRI.
During 2021, the nuclear-armed permanent members (P5) of the United Nations Security Council China, France, Russia, the UK and the US worked on a joint statement that they issued on 3 January 2022, affirming that 'nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought', said that institute.
"Despite this, all P5 members continue to expand or modernize their nuclear arsenals and appear to be increasing the salience of nuclear weapons in their military strategies," it added.
The nine nuclear-armed states are the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, the Israeli entity and North Korea. Russia and the US together possess over 90 per cent of all nuclear weapons. (QNA)