The world is at a turning point in efforts to stop the proliferation of nuclear weapons, particularly in the Middle East, a former US arms treaty negotiator said on Friday at the Global Policy Forum in the Russian city of Yaroslavl.

“The problem is if Iran acquires nuclear weapons, then three or four others could then make the decision. For example, Turkey, Syria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia,” said Richard Burt, former United States ambassador to Germany and chief negotiator of the first Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START).

“We could then find ourselves within a period of 10 years in a situation where there are five or six nuclear powers in the world’s most dangerous and most unstable region in the Middle East. That is why we have to act now,” he added.

Burt said he wants to see and will propose both the United States and Russia announce early next year that they are going to resume negotiations on a treaty that will substantially reduce further their nuclear arsenals.

Burt has been working with Igor Yurgens, an adviser to President Dmitry Medvedev, in “Global Zero,” an international organization dedicated to the elimination of nuclear weapons worldwide.

YAROSLAVL, September 10 (RIA Novosti)