WASHINGTON: More cooperation is needed to prevent the militant Islamic State (IS) group’s “madmen” and other extremists from getting a nuclear weapon, US President Barack Obama warned on Friday as global leaders met here.

The threat of terrorists using nuclear material in a “dirty bomb” — or even obtaining an atomic weapon — has loomed large over the summit, punctuated by revelations that IS members tracked a Belgian nuclear scientist on video.

The IS “has already used chemical weapons, including mustard gas, in Syria and Iraq,” Mr Obama said.

“There is no doubt that if these madmen ever got their hands on a nuclear bomb or nuclear material, they most certainly would use it to continue to kill as many innocent people as possible.”

The summit — attended by dozens of world leaders and delegates — is focused on securing global stockpiles of nuclear material, much of it used in the medical and power industries.

President Obama said about 2,000 tons of nuclear materials were stored around the world at civilian and military facilities, some of them not properly secured.

“Just the smallest amount of plutonium — about the size of an apple — would kill and injure hundreds of thousands of innocent people,” he said.

“It would be a humanitarian, political, economic and environmental catastrophe with global ramifications for decades.”

Washington summit is focused on securing global stockpiles of nuclear material

The nuclear security summit comes in the wake of attacks in Paris and Brussels that have killed over 150 people and exposed Europe’s inability to thwart destabilising attacks or track IS operatives returning from Iraq and Syria.

Evidence that individuals linked to those two atrocities videotaped a senior scientist at a Belgian nuclear facility has given the threat added weight.

North Korea concerns

Though the summit is focused on fissile stockpiles, other nuclear concerns inevitably have drawn broad attention, including North Korea and its continued testing of nuclear devices and ballistic missiles.

The summit opened on Thursday, with Mr Obama trying to forge consensus among East Asian leaders on how to respond to Pyongyang.

“We are united in our efforts to deter and defend against North Korean provocations,” he said after meeting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Park Geun-Hye.

New steps

Halfway through the closing day of the summit, delegates described a series of incremental measures, such as enhanced cooperation between nations.

Mr Obama and Mr Abe announced that Japan had removed all its highly-enriched uranium and separated plutonium fuels ahead of schedule. The fissile material will be “down-blended” in the United States for civilian use or eventual disposal.

President Obama also used the summit as a chance to speak with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, promising candid talks over Beijing’s alleged military build-up in the South China Sea.

This is the fourth in a series of nuclear security summits convened at Mr Obama’s behest and with the president leaving office next year, it may well be the last.

But it risked being overshadowed by two men who were not even there: Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Experts say President Putin’s refusal to attend has made it almost impossible to achieve substantive reductions in fissile material — the vast majority of which is held by the militaries of Russia and the US.

Mr Obama’s foreign policy adviser Ben Rhodes earlier described the lack of Russian participation as “counterproductive”.

The US presidential election also took centre stage, with questions about Mr Trump’s suggestion that Japan and South Korea should develop nuclear weapons.

“It would be catastrophic for the United States to shift its position and indicate that we somehow support the proliferation of nuclear weapons,” the adviser said.

Iran’s integration

At a meeting of allied countries that brokered a nuclear deal with Iran, President Obama warned that it would take time for the country to rejoin the global economy.

“It will take time for Iran to reintegrate into the global economy, but Iran is already beginning to see the benefit of this deal.”

The international community lifted a raft of sanctions on Iran early this year in exchange for the country curbing its nuclear programme.

But months on, much of Iran’s holdings abroad remain frozen, and US and European businesses are reluctant to do business with Iran for fear of getting tangled in a thicket of US regulations.

A host of non-nuclear sanctions related to terrorism sponsorship, ballistic missile programmes and political crackdowns remain in place and are unlikely to be removed any time soon.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei recently accused the US of failing to respect the terms of the nuclear agreement.

The United States has lifted sanctions “on paper,” he said, “but they are using roundabout paths to prevent the Islamic Republic from achieving its targets”.

Published in Dawn, April 2nd, 2016