Forum on the Arms Trade

10 Questions to Ask a Warmonger Ten sets of questions to ask a person who believes that bombing will solve complex social problems:

Matthew Breay Bolton
medium.com/@matthewbrea...

Lebanon: Israel Unlawfully Using White Phosphorus The Israeli military unlawfully used artillery-fired white phosphorus munitions over homes on March 3, 2026, in the southern Lebanese town of Yohmor.

Human Rights Watch says they've verified that Israel has used white phosphorus on civilian populations in Lebanon.

🌎 All around the world, specialist equipment is used in acts of torture & other ill-treatment. Despite this, there are no international, #HumanRights -based controls on the trade in tools of torture.

The volume of international transfers of major arms in 2021–25 was 9.2% higher than in 2016–20. This was the biggest increase in global arms flows since 2011–15.

Read the fact sheet ➡️ doi.org/10.55163/OSM...
#ArmsTransfers #GlobalArmsTrade #ArmsData #SIPRIData #Peace

🇺🇸 USA increases its dominance of arms exports, with exports increasing by 27% between 2016–20 and 2021–25, giving it a 42% share of total global arms exports.

Read the press release ➡️ bit.ly/4laXOnH

@hrw.org @unidir.org @caatuk.bsky.social
@controlarms.bsky.social

The five largest exporters of major arms in 2021–25 were 🇺🇸USA, 🇫🇷France, 🇷🇺Russia, 🇩🇪Germany and 🇨🇳China.

The five largest recipients of major arms in 2021–25 were 🇺🇦Ukraine, 🇮🇳India, 🇸🇦Saudi Arabia, 🇶🇦Qatar and 🇵🇰Pakistan.

Read the fact sheet ➡️ doi.org/10.55163/OSM...

SIPRI and the Stimson Center to host event on arms transfers in a changing global order On 11 March, SIPRI and the Stimson Center will host a virtual discussion on the geostrategic implications of recent trends in global arms transfers. Under the title ‘The Re-making of International Sec...

📣Mark your calendars: Join SIPRI and @stimsoncenter.bsky.social for a virtual discussion on the geostrategic implications of recent trends in global arms transfers. More info ➡️ bit.ly/3MNvvyK

🗓️ 11 March 2026
⏰ 9:30–11:00 EST | 15:30–17:00 CET

Black rain: the health and environmental risks from Tehran’s oil fires - CEOBS Attacks on Tehran's oil facilities have exposed millions to harm, we explore the attacks and unpack their health and environmental risks.

Israeli attacks on four oil facilities in #Tehran this weekend have exposed millions of Iranians to harm.

In this post we explore the attacks and unpack their health and environmental consequences: ceobs.org/black-rain-t... 1/3 #IranIsreal #Iran #IntLaw

OpenAI on Surveillance and Autonomous Killings: You’re Going to Have to Trust Us OpenAI says Americans shouldn’t worry about the ethics of its new Pentagon contract. You’ll have to take their word for it (and Pete Hegseth’s).

OpenAI’s Pentagon deal boils down to one thing: Total blind trust in the integrity of Sam Altman, Pete Hegseth, and Donald Trump.

theintercept.com/2026/03/08/o...

As states discussed changes to a text that could form the basis of an #AutonomousWeapons treaty, the use of AI targeting in Iran demonstrated that meaningful human control over the use of force is already being weakened to devastating humanitarian effect.

www.stopkillerrobots.org/news/reports...

A Trump Order Protected a Weedkiller. And Also a Weapon of War.

Bayer, through its acquisition of Monsanto in 2018, operates the only facility in the United States that produces white phosphorus.
www.nytimes.com/2026/03/08/c...

Major Arms Sales Resources on notifications of major arms sales (US) under the FMS program. Data going back to 1997.

4/ We've also updated our major arms sales notification tracker (for Foreign Military Sales). In calendar year 2026 alone, the Trump admin has notified nearly $26b in combined sales to 10 countries. See resource at www.forumarmstrade.org/major-arms-s...

3/ Via the FMS process alone, this Trump administration has notified nearly $18 billion in arms sales to Israel www.forumarmstrade.org/us-israel-tr...

Meeks Issues Statement on Trump Administration’s Decision to Invoke the Arms Export Control Act’s Emergency Authority to Send Weapons to Israel

2/ Rep Gregory Meeks (ranking member HFAC) issued statement, noting that there were actually two cases that together included 20,000+ bombs worth >$650 million. Saying there is "a contradiction at the heart of this administration's case for war." democrats-foreignaffairs.house.gov/press-releas...

US Arms to Israel - Trump This resource page is primarily a timeline of developments related to the potential or actual provision of weapons to Israel during Donald Trump's second administration (2025-2029).

1/ Yesterday, the Trump administration notified Congress of a $151.8 million sale to #Israel of 12,000 1,000-pound bombs, declaring an emergency to bypass the Congressional review period. www.forumarmstrade.org/us-israel-tr...
see notification www.state.gov/israel-munit...

Weapons makers cash in on Trump's Iran war Big Pentagon contractors like Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman saw billions added to their market value

Defense contractor stocks soaring in first days of US-Israel war on Iran, with Northrop Grumman leading the pack. On the homefront the war is causing gas prices and home mortgages to rise for ordinary Americans

responsiblestatecraft.org/iran-war-wea...

Via @janetabouelias.bsky.social + Ben Freeman

and for more on this topic, see our resource page on US conventional arms transfer policy www.forumarmstrade.org/catpolicy.html

Join UNIDIR, the Gender Focal Points of the Arms Trade Treaty, Control Arms and UN Women to mark International Women’s Day and discuss the role of the Treaty in preventing gender-based violence.

🗓️ 10 March, Geneva

✍️ Register here: http://bit.ly/4clnwmZ

Anthropic’s AI tool Claude central to U.S. campaign in Iran, amid a bitter feud Anthropic’s AI tool Claude is playing a key role in the U.S. military’s campaign in Iran, amid a bitter fight with the Pentagon over the terms of its use in war.

“AI gets it wrong...We need humans to check the output of generative AI when the stakes are life and death.”

The U.S. military is using advanced generative AI to create target lists. Machines should decide who lies and who dies. #StopKillerRobots

www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

Trump’s Orwellian Board of Peace Consists Entirely of Human Rights Abusers An Intercept analysis finds that every single Board of Peace member state has been rebuked for human rights violations.

EXCLUSIVE: Trump’s Orwellian Board of Peace Consists Entirely of Human Rights Abusers

An Intercept analysis finds that every single Board of Peace member state has been rebuked for human rights violations.

theintercept.com/2026/03/02/t...

Croatia becomes mine-free after 30 years, meeting Ottawa Convention commitment

croatiaweek.com/croatia-mine-free-2026-ottawa-convention/
@minefreeworld.bsky.social

Poster says No War on Iran! Text and images of bombs dropping and hands rising are in blue. Image by Roger Peet of Justseeds.

Once again, the United States and Israel have launched an unlawful war of aggression against another country. The unconscionable harm to civilians in Iran and beyond, the destruction of international law, and the militarised bullying must end now.

📃: reachingcriticalwill.org/news/latest-...

The Costs of War Project on X: "BREAKING: China-focused military spending since 2012 has exceeded the financial costs of 20 years of war in Afghanistan, according to new Costs of War research. [THREAD] https://t.co/FGyySVT4wh" / X BREAKING: China-focused military spending since 2012 has exceeded the financial costs of 20 years of war in Afghanistan, according to new Costs of War research. [THREAD] https://t.co/FGyySVT4wh

x.com/CostsOfWar/s...

costsofwar.watson.brown.edu/paper/Milita...
U.S. has spent at least $3.4 trillion countering the so-called “China threat” between 2012-2024, comprising 5 percent of total federal expenditures over the 13-year period (totaling $74.7 trillion) and 14 percent of discretionary spending ($23 trillion)

Three days of Operation Epic Fury: rapid overview of environmental harm in Iran and the region - CEOBS Rapid overview of emerging environmental issues and risks in Iran and the wider region from Operation Epic Fury.

Overview of emerging environmental issues and risks in #Iran and the wider region from Operation #EpicFury. We're already seeing pollution incidents that are placing people and ecosystems at risk of acute and chronic harm: ceobs.org/three-days-o... #IsraelIranWar 1/5

NEW

The White House has submitted its War Powers report to Congress for the attack on Iran.

The justification for military action rests on 1) Iran's supposed continued quest for nuclear weapons and 2) the threat Iran's missiles pose to US forces, vessels, civilians and those of partners. 1/n

Stop Bombing Civilians

(Ir-)Responsible by Design? Corporate Guardrails and the Governance of Military AI [Jessica Dorsey is an Assistant Professor of International Law at Utrecht University School of Law; Elke Schwarz is a Professor of Political Theory at Queen Mary University London; Ingvild Bode is …

The Anthropic-U.S. DoD public dispute continues. We have unpacked the latest updates & the safety, legal & ethical concerns in our @opiniojuris.bsky.social article

@jessicadorsey.bsky.social @elkeschwarz.bsky.social @profbode.bsky.social @ncrenic.bsky.social

opiniojuris.org/2026/03/02/i...

Arms development on the Korean peninsula: divergent strategic pathways in an era of intensifying competition - AOAV This report examines how North and South Korea have pursued fundamentally divergent military development trajectories since the 1953 armistice — the DPRK centred on nuclear deterrence and regime survi...

Arms development on the Korean peninsula: divergent strategic pathways in an era of intensifying competition

New for @aoav.bsky.social

aoav.org.uk/2026/arms-de...

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🔗 Apply how: www.charityjob.co.uk/jobs/caat/ad...