President Barack Obama announced a retooled nuclear strategy yesterday that would limit the conditions under which the United States would use nuclear weapons.
Outlining the strategy in an interview with the New York Times, Mr Obama said the conditions would not be narrowed for "outliers like Iran and North Korea" that have violated or renounced the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
"I'm going to preserve all the tools that are necessary in order to make sure that the American people are safe and secure," Mr Obama told the newspaper.
Under the new strategy, the United States would be committed not to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear states that are in compliance with the treaty or with their non-proliferation obligations, according to the Times and a US official who confirmed the details of the strategy.
Another exception would allow an "option to revise" the commitment not to use nuclear weapons if there were a biological weapons attack and if a country's development or proliferation of bio-weapons posed a risk of a devastating attack.
The strategy would also reject the development by the United States of any new nuclear weapons but that would be coupled with increased investments in the management of the nuclear stockpile.
Mr Obama's conservative critics say his approach so far has been naive and could endanger US national security.
The Obama administration plans to formally roll out its Nuclear Posture Review today. The much-anticipated announcement on the size and role of the US nuclear weapons stockpile is aimed at building momentum before Obama signs a landmark arms control treaty with Russia in Prague on Thursday and hosts a nuclear security summit in Washington next week.
The Nuclear Posture Review is required by Congress from every US administration.
Reuters