US pullout from JCPOA, INF to seriously harm intl. security, Cuba warns

Cuba’s foreign minister has warned about the serious repercussions of the Trump administration’s decisions to withdraw from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal as well as the Treaty of Short and Intermediate Range Missiles (INF) wih Russia.

Bruno Rodriguez on Friday strongly rejected the US withdrawal from the two deals and warned that Washington’s unilateral actions will have serious consequences for international stability and security.

He made the comments in a video message to the UN General Assembly to commemorate and promote the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons.

The Cuban top diplomat also warned about the threat posed by the United States and its warmongering stances against international efforts in line with nuclear disarmament.

The United States continues to possess the largest number of nuclear weapons available to be used and is the only one in the world that has dropped two atomic bombs, he said.

He said 75 years after the criminal bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, there are approximately 13,400 nuclear weapons, of which nearly 1,800 are on operational alert and 3,720 deployed, more than half of these belonging to the United States.

The UN cannot remain impassive in the face of the US nuclear stance review, which lowers the threshold for the use of these weapons, even in response to the so-called 'non-nuclear strategic threats,' Rodriguez noted.

He also urged the US government to renew its Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with Russia (known as START).

In August 2019, US President Donald Trump withdrew his country from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) with Russia, which had banned land-based missiles with a range of between 500 to 5,500 kilometers.

US formally abandons INF, Moscow announces missile treaty’s demise

The US officially withdraws from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. .

Moscow warned at the time that the US’s withdrawal would provoke another arms race among world powers.

Immediately after the withdrawal, the US said it was planning to place ground-launched intermediate-range missiles in Asia.

The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) accord, which expires in February 2021, is the last major nuclear arms control treaty between Moscow and Washington that puts a limit on the number of strategic nuclear warheads each country can have.

The US and Russia signed the New START accord in 2010 and agreed to reduce the number of strategic nuclear missiles by half and restrict the number of deployed strategic nuclear warheads to 1,550.

The New START can be extended for another five years by mutual agreement.

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