Iranian Envoy Calls on Int’l Community to Force Israel to Join NPT
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The Iranian Ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) described Israel as a major threat to the international peace, and called upon the world countries to pressure the Israeli regime into joining the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Addressing the 59th Annual Regular Session of the IAEA General Conference in the Austrian capital of Vienna on Thursday, Reza Najafi said Israel’s “prohibited nuclear activity has seriously threatened regional peace and security and endangers the non-proliferation regime.”
The Iranian diplomat also expressed deep sorrow that “this non-party to the NPT which continues to run its illegal underground nuclear military program, supported by its allies, has not even declared its intention to accede to the Treaty and abandon its weapons of mass destruction program.”
“The Israeli regime, confident of the political and military support of certain UN Security Council permanent members, has neither acceded to the NPT, nor placed its secretive underground nuclear facilities under the IAEA safeguards,” Najafi noted.
He further emphasized that the aspirations for a region free from nuclear weapons would not be achieved unless the international community exerts “sustained pressure on the Israeli regime in order to compel it to accede, promptly and unconditionally, as a non-nuclear weapon party, to the NPT and to place all of its underground nuclear activities and installations under the IAEA full-scope safeguards.”
In the meantime, a resolution calling for the monitoring of Israel’s nuclear activities and facilities failed to secure enough votes at the IAEA’s general assembly on Thursday.
Sixty-one countries, including the US and the entire member states of the European Union, voted against the resolution, while 43 countries, including Iran, Russia and Turkey, voted in favor, and 33 states, including Brazil and India, abstained.
Israel is widely understood to possess nuclear weapons but declines to confirm or deny it under the policy of nuclear ambiguity. It has refused to join the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and been the only obstacle in the way of realization of a nuclear-weapons-free Middle East.
