US President Barack Obama will likely reveal the size of the US nuclear stockpile at a major UN nuclear disarmament summit next week in New York, The Washington Post reported Saturday. Citing unnamed officials, the newspaper said various factions in the Obama administration had debated for months whether to declassify the numbers. But now the administration is seeking a dramatic announcement that will further enhance its nuclear credentials as it tries to bolster the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the paper noted. The summit on NPT opens Monday at UN headquarters in New York. According to The Post, the numbers could be released when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton addressed the NPT Review Conference. Arms-control groups estimate the US nuclear arsenal contains 9,000 weapons, roughly 5,000 of them active and the rest in line for disassembly. The Obama administration hopes to use a United Nations conference next week to build support for isolating Iran by strengthening the treaty designed to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, but acknowledges that delegates from 189 countries are unlikely to reach consensus
