UN chief warns of consequences if no meeting is held on nuclear-weapons-free Mideast
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Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is warning that the failure to hold a conference on establishing a nuclear-weapons-free zone in the Middle East this year could jeopardize the success of next year's review of the landmark 1970 agreement aimed at stopping the spread of nuclear arms.
In a report to the U.N. General Assembly circulated Thursday, Ban urged all parties to finalize arrangements for a conference to be held as soon as possible.
At the 2010 conference to review the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, 189 member nations called for convening a conference in 2012 on establishing a Mideast zone free of weapons of mass destruction.
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It was scheduled to take place in late 2012, but the U.S. announced it would be delayed, apparently to save Israel, widely believed to possess nuclear weapons.