UN chief warns against ‘playing with fire’ as nuclear test threat looms

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has warned the world against “playing with fire” as nuclear test threat looms.

Guterres issued the stark warning on the International Day against Nuclear Tests, urging world leaders to halt the threat of renewed detonations.

“Stop playing with fire. Now is the time to silence the bombs before they speak again,” he said in his message.

Guterres’ warning coincided with the 80th anniversary of the first nuclear test on July 16, 1945 in the New Mexico desert under the Manhattan Project.

Since then, more than 2,000 nuclear tests have been carried out worldwide.

Atmospheric tests in the early decades of the nuclear era spread radioactive fallout across continents.

The tests also contaminated land and seas, displaced communities and left survivors facing health crises passed down through generations.

The international day was declared by the UN General Assembly in 2009, following Kazakhstan’s closure of the Semipalatinsk test site.

The site has since become a rallying point for governments, civil society and campaigners pressing for an end to nuclear testing and progress towards full disarmament.

Guterres stressed that nuclear testing remained a grave danger amid rising geopolitical tensions.

“We must never forget the horrific legacy of over 2,000 nuclear tests,” he said.

“The world cannot accept this,” the Secretary-General stressed.

He urged States to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), adopted by a large majority in 1996 but still not in force nearly three decades later.