The damage to the global anti-nuclear regime founded on the bargain written into the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) that only those who renounce nuclear weapons should benefit from civilian nuclear trade and assistance will be lasting and will spread.
Arms control advocates say the United States, which already has a large stockpile of advanced nuclear weapons, would benefit if a ban on testing became the norm, because that would slow the spread of weapons.
It may be possible to convince Iran that the costs of building nuclear weapons exceed the benefit of having them.
The Obama Administration views its opening to Iran as part of a broader effort to bring stability to the region, and sees an Iranian commitment to foreswear nuclear weapons as a benefit to allies like Saudi Arabia.
Far-right Japanese parties that claim North Korea and its main ally, China, pose a fundamental threat and that advocate Japanese rearmament, including with nuclear weapons, would also benefit from an upsurge in tensions, Hughes said.
But a growing bipartisan consensus of experts and military officials recognizes that whatever benefits nuclear weapons may have provided in the past are outweighed by the risks they present now.
There were also indications today of disagreements within the Bush administration over whether to declare as "dead" the 1994 accord in which North Korea promised to stop building nuclear weapons in return for economic benefits from the United States, South Korea and Japan.
Last week, North Korea scrapped planned talks with the South over objections to routine U.S.-South U.S.-South Koreatary exercises, and a high-ranking Kim aide blasted Bolton, who had suggested that the North Koreans would be expected to fully relinquish their nuclear weapons program before receiving reciprocal benefits from the United States.
European officials are brainstorming ways to protect their countries' business interests in Iran and also preserve the deal's procedures to prevent Iranian nuclear weapons development by keeping economic benefits to the country flowing.
But that also eliminated the need for nuclear weapons testing, which is a great benefit in reducing global proliferation.
