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UNITED NATIONS — <\/span>A four-week United Nations conference reviewing the treaty<\/a> to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons ended Friday without agreement as the United States and Iran sparred over Iran’s nuclear program. <\/p>\n Vietnam’s U.N. Ambassador Do Hung Viet, who chaired the conference, announced that there was no consensus among the 191 parties to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty on even a watered-down final document. He did not say which country or countries blocked a consensus. <\/p>\n It was the third failure in a row at a conference reviewing the NPT, considered the cornerstone of global nonproliferation and disarmament. At the last treaty review in August 2022, Russia blocked agreement on a final document over its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine and references to Moscow\u2019s occupation of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe\u2019s largest.<\/p>\n Tensions over Tehran\u2019s nuclear program<\/a> escalated ahead of the Iran war, which began with U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on Feb. 28. President Donald Trump has said the war was aimed at preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. Iran has enriched uranium to near weapons-grade levels but insists its program is only for civilian purposes.<\/p>\n The U.S. and Iran have clashed since the opening of the review conference on April 27. The U.S. has accused Iran of showing \u201ccontempt\u201d for its commitments under the treaty, while Iran has said U.S. and Israeli attacks on its nuclear facilities violated international law. <\/p>\n Iran is a party to the NPT, which requires countries to open all nuclear sites to inspection by the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency. But Iran has not given inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency access to nuclear sites<\/a> that were bombed by the U.S.<\/a> last June.<\/p>\n In speeches at the end of the conference, the United States called Iran a \u201cprolific treaty violator\u201d and said it had spent the conference \u201cshirking accountability for its grotesque violations.\u201d Iran accused the U.S. and its allies of conducting a \u201crelentless campaign\u201d to legitimize their \u201cunlawful attacks\u201d on the country and its nuclear facilities.<\/p>\n Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Washington-based Arms Control Association, said the conference \u201cshowed that rhetorical support for the NPT is strong, but the foundations of the NPT are cracking due to inaction, inattention, and intransigence on the part of the major powers.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMuch more enlightened, engaged, and pragmatic leadership and diplomacy will be needed to guard against the growing risks of an unconstrained nuclear buildup, threats to resume nuclear testing, and the risk of a nuclear-armed Iran,” Kimball said.<\/p>\n Britain\u2019s Rebecca Johnson, founding executive director of the Acronym Institute for Disarmament Diplomacy, had harsh criticism for both the U.S. and Russia, the two largest nuclear powers, which she said “double down on nuclear threats, blame others and try to undermine or ignore the NPT\u2019s nuclear disarmament commitments and related agreements.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n