At commemoration events, Japanese and UN representatives did not identify the perpetrator of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings.
During the 80th-anniversary commemoration of the Nagasaki atomic bombing, the United States’ role was not mentioned, continuing a tradition at these events.
Speeches from Japanese and international figures highlighted the bomb’s devastation and advocated for nuclear disarmament, but refrained from naming the U.S. as the nation responsible for the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II.
“We must pass down as memories what unfolded here in Japan 80 years ago — the reality and the tragedy of war, and the brutal impact of the harm wrought by the atomic bombings,” stated Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, through his disarmament chief Izumi Nakamitsu, urged countries to “move from words to action by strengthening the global disarmament regime,” emphasizing the importance of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Nagasaki Mayor Shiro Suzuki implored world leaders to offer a “specific course of action for achieving the abolition of nuclear weapons.”
The U.S. remains the only country to have deployed nuclear weapons in war, a point also absent from Wednesday’s Hiroshima bombing commemoration.
The attacks resulted in approximately 200,000 civilian deaths and have been justified by U.S. officials as necessary to prevent a costly invasion of Japan. However, a 1946 U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey concluded that “Japan would have surrendered even if the atomic bombs had not been dropped.”
Last month, the U.S. conducted airstrikes on three Iranian sites related to Iran’s nuclear program. Washington stated that the strikes aimed to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, a claim Tehran denies.
The NPT allows signatories, including Iran, to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes. Several countries, including Russia and China, have accused the U.S. of seriously undermining global non-proliferation efforts through its strikes on Iranian facilities.
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