Nuclear politics in the Mediterranean: Prospects and pitfalls of nuclear weapons programs in Middle Eastern states

Abstract

Through a resolution in the 1974 United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), Egypt, in coordination with Iran, first proposed the establishment of a nuclear-weapons-free zone (NWFZ) in the Middle East, which the UNGA approved with near unanimous support. Egypt expanded this proposal in 1990 to include establishment of a weapons of mass destruction-free zone (WMDFZ). Since then, UNGA resolutions related to Middle East WMDFZ or NWFZ have passed every year without a vote (Davenport 2015). Moreover, the 1995 Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference further adopted a Resolution on the Middle East for the establishment of WMDFZ. The 1995 NPT conference specifically requested Middle Eastern states to: