UN General Assembly holds high-level plenary on eliminating nuclear weapons as about 12,400 warheads remain

29 September 2026

The UN General Assembly held a high-level plenary meeting on 29 September 2026 to mark the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons.
About 12,400 nuclear weapons remain in existence despite decades of reduction efforts.
The meeting closed the General Assembly's High-Level Week.
The eleventh Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons ended on 22 May 2026 without consensus on a final declaration.
Strikes on nuclear infrastructure in Iran and in Ukraine were cited as compounding present risks.
Nuclear weapons have been used in war only twice, on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.