"Russia’s war on Ukraine represents historic challenges for nuclear security and arms control. For the first time war is waged in a territory with significant industrial nuclear infrastructure. Ukraine, a former nuclear power which voluntarily has surrendered its own nuclear deterrent, faces an nuclear armed aggressor in violation of security guarantees made by nuclear powers in the Budapest Memorandum in 1994.

Important arms control treaties increasingly have been challenged even by leading nuclear weapon states: The United States and Russia have ended the Intermediate Nuclear Force Treaty. Failure in the negotiations for an extension of the New START treaty was avoided only at the last moment. The United States has withdrawn from the JCPOA (the ""Iran Nuclear Deal""). Both the United States and Russia have withdrawn from the Open Skies Arms Control Treaty.

The colloquium will review possible consequences of nuclear war and explain the system of arms control treaties that have been put into place to contain this threat over the past 70 years.  We will focus on the Iran Nuclear Deal, an agreement that aims to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons to Iran. We will discuss the recent history, including the US withdrawal in 2018 and current efforts to re-negotiate the agreement."