Kofi Annan Quotes

The larger picture here is that a North Korea with nuclear weapons adds to the larger proliferation risk.

If we are really anxious not to have nuclear weapons in Iran, the first thing is to call an international conference on abolishing all nuclear weapons, including Israeli nuclear weapons.

We need to make it very clear to the Iranians, the same way we made it clear to the Soviet Union and China, that their first use of nuclear weapons would result in the devastation of their nation.

I want to move to a world of no nuclear weapons but I want to do that through multilateral disarmament so that we all disarm together.

Barack Obama has injected fresh momentum into efforts - stalled for a decade - to bring about nuclear disarmament.

If we wish to convince countries like Iran that the development of nuclear weapons is not in their best interest, we need to demonstrate that maintaining or enhancing our own arsenal is not in our interest.

There is a clear norm against the spread of nuclear weapons, but there is no consensus or treaty on what, if anything, is to be done once a country develops or acquires nuclear weapons.

Under both international and domestic law, the United States is authorized to have nuclear weapons.

I'll remind you that the West signed a deal with North Korea, said it would make the world a safer place, and, of course, all the words evaporated, and North Korea acquired nuclear weapons.

But beyond all that, the question that is continually begged is why isn't America leading the way toward total abolition of nuclear weapons.

I worry about a democracy having nuclear weapons as much as a dictatorship having nuclear weapons.

We are categorically against proliferation of nuclear weapons.

The crucial thing is to arouse the awareness that as a matter of human conscience we can never permit the people of any country to fall victim to nuclear weapons, and for each individual to express their refusal to continue living in the shadow of the threat they pose.

The catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons require that it be treated as a top priority. Disarmament will work better than any alternative in reducing the risk of use.

It is not viable for one country to demand a right to increase and upgrade its nuclear weapons capabilities while asking others to eliminate theirs.

Everyone knows that Israel has nuclear weapons, but no one is talking about it. The world doesn't want nuclear weapons - not in Israel, not in the Middle East and not anywhere in the world.

We must eliminate all nuclear weapons in order to eliminate the grave risk they pose to our world. This will require persistent efforts by all countries and peoples. A nuclear war would affect everyone, and all have a stake in preventing this nightmare.

The nuclear weapon is obsolete. I want to get rid of them all.

Some day, somebody is going to have to start talking about what happens to us all a decade from now if we let these North Koreans and the Iranians go forward with their nuclear weapons program.

For the United States to recommit itself to the obligation that we undertook in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty that many other states undertook, which was to work towards disarmament and the eventual elimination of nuclear weapons, is something that manifestly serves our national security interests.

But the nuclear powers still cling tenaciously to their weapons.

This is a very important relationship we have with Russia, the relationship over the nuclear arsenal that they have obviously is important. They're a very powerful country.

All nuclear material in weapons programmes must be subject one day to binding international verification.

Nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation are not utopian ideals. They are critical to global peace and security.

You can’t go making new nuclear weapons and talk to the rest of the world about giving them up.