A senior Iranian diplomat has expressed concern over the lack of progress in the implementation of the 1995 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) resolution and the 2010 action plan on the Middle East, saying the Israeli regime must eliminate its stockpile of nuclear weapons.
Faraan: Iran’s ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations, Majid Takht-Ravanchi, made the remarks in an address to the Tenth Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons held at the UN headquarters in New York on Monday.
He said the positions of the nuclear weapon states, echoed and supported by the so-called umbrella states, including their attempt to replace nuclear disarmament with nuclear risk reduction, are contrary to their legal obligations concerning nuclear disarmament. Takht-Ravanchi slammed the US double standards, saying Israel’s accession to the NPT “without precondition and further delay” and the placement of all of its nuclear activities and facilities under the comprehensive International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards are “essential in realizing the goal of universal adherence to the Treaty in the Middle East and the establishment of a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East.”
He noted that the Iranian delegation has contributed constructively to the discussions and draft reports of the ongoing NPT review conference, expressing regret that none of the draft reports garnered consensus “due to some imbalanced contents.” “Three weeks of intense negotiations reveal that the NNWS do not have the determination and political will to accept any concrete commitments or timetable, benchmarks or targets that are required for making progress in our negotiations on nuclear disarmament pillar,” Takht-Ravanchi said.
