What was the main purpose of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) of 1968?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option 2- To prevent new countries from acquiring nuclear weapons
The NPT regulated the acquisition of nuclear weapons by preventing countries that had not tested or manufactured nuclear weapons before 1967 from acquiring them, while allowing the ones that had done so to keep theirs.
The US and Soviet Union signed a number of other arms control treaties including the Strategic Arms Limitations Treaty II or SALT II and the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START). The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) of 1968 was an arms control treaty in the sense that it regulated the acquisition of nuclear weapons: those countries that had tested and manufactured nuclear weapons before 1967 were allowed to keep their weapons; and those that had not done so were to give up the right to acquire them. The NPT did not abolish nuclear weapons; rather, it limited the number of countries that could have them.