Which agreement, signed in 1987, banned a whole category of nuclear weapons?

• A. START I
• B. INF Treaty
• C. SALT I
• D. ABM Treaty

Answer: (B)

The main idea is recognizing arms-control efforts that eliminate an entire class of weapons. The agreement signed in 1987 did exactly that by banning all ground-launched ballistic missiles and cruise missiles with ranges between about 500 and 5,500 kilometers for both the United States and the Soviet Union. In other words, it removed an entire category of nuclear delivery systems from service, not just limiting numbers.

This treaty, reached by Reagan and Gorbachev, also required destruction of the missiles and their launchers and included on-site verification to ensure compliance. It marked a shift from counting weapons to erasing a whole type of weapon from arsenals, helping reduce the immediate threat posed by a large class of missiles.

The other options involve limits or ceilings on weapon types or defenses that do not ban an entire class of weapons: one focuses on reducing strategic warheads, another on ceilings established in the earlier SALT talks, and the last on limiting defenses rather than a category of weapons.