UN chief urges nuclear powers to abide by no-first-use pledge

'Nobody can accept the idea that a new nuclear war would happen,' Mr Guterres said.

United Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres. Picture: AP.

United Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres has urged countries with nuclear weapons to stick to their no-first-use commitment on their atomic arsenals, warning that the arms race has returned amid growing international tension.

“This is the moment… to ask the nuclear-armed countries to commit to the principle of non-first-use and to commit to not use and not threaten the non-nuclear countries,” he said at a news conference in Tokyo, two days after he visited Hiroshima to commemorate victims of the atomic bombing on August 6 1945.