Obama vows to pursue further nuclear arms cuts with Russia

PanARMENIAN.Net - U.S. President Barack Obama vowed on Monday, March 26, to pursue further nuclear arms cuts with Russia, saying the United States has more warheads than necessary, even as he issued stern warnings to North Korea and Iran in their nuclear standoffs with the West, Reuters reported.

Speaking ahead of a global nuclear security summit in Seoul, Obama held out the prospect of new reductions in the U.S. arsenal as he sought to rally world leaders for additional concrete steps against the threat of nuclear terrorism.

"We can already say with confidence that we have more nuclear weapons than we need," Obama told students at South Korea's Hankuk University.

He pledged a new arms-control push with incoming Russian president Vladimir Putin when they meet in May. But any further reductions would face stiff election-year opposition from Republicans in Congress who already accuse him of weakening America's nuclear deterrent.

Obama laid out his latest strategy against the backdrop of continued nuclear defiance from North Korea and Iran, twin challenges that have clouded his overall nuclear agenda as well as the summit getting under way in Seoul.

Obama set expectations high in a 2009 speech in Prague when he declared it was time to seek "a world without nuclear weapons". He acknowledged at the time it was a long-term goal, but his high-flown oratory helped him win the Nobel Peace Prize.

In Seoul on Monday, Obama made clear that he remained committed to that notion and insisted that "those who deride our vision, who say that ours is an impossible goal that will be forever out of reach", were wrong.

Though Obama was vague on exactly how such a vision would be achieved, he voiced confidence the United States and Russia, which reached a landmark arms-control treaty in 2009, "can continue to make progress and reduce our nuclear stockpiles".

"I firmly believe that we can ensure the security of the United States and our allies, maintain a strong deterrent against any threat, and still pursue further reductions in our nuclear arsenal," he said.

But another arms accord with Moscow will be a tough sell to U.S. conservatives who say Obama has not moved fast enough to modernize the U.S. strategic arsenal, a pledge he made in return for Republican votes that helped ratify the START treaty.