the INF Treaty
/ði ˌaɪ en ˈef triːti/
/ði ˌaɪ en ˈef triːti/
the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty
- an agreement reached in 1987 between the US and the USSR to destroy all nuclear missiles (= explosive weapons fired through the air) that could travel between 300 and 3 400 miles/483 and 5 471 kilometres. It was the first reduction in nuclear weapons that had ever taken place. The INF Treaty was signed in Washington, DC, by the US President Ronald Reagan and the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. It involved 1 752 US missiles and 859 Soviet ones.