Iran raps Israeli nuke threat, vows to respond resolutely
Iran has vehemently condemned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s threat to use nukes, saying it reserves the right to deliver a resolute response to the occupying entity under international law.
In letters sent Monday to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, as well as the presidents of the General Assembly and Security Council, Iran’s Permanent Representative to the UN Amir Saeid Iravani urged the international community to break their silence in the face of Tel Aviv’s “reckless and dangerous” rhetoric, Press TV reported.
On Friday, Netanyahu called for a “credible nuclear threat” against Iran in an address to the 78th session of the UN General Assembly. However, his office later said that he misread the line and meant to say a “credible military threat.”
“While vehemently and unequivocally condemning the Israeli regime’s perilous threat to use nuclear weapons against Iran …, the Islamic Republic firmly reaffirms its legitimate and inherent rights, in full accordance with international law and the United Nations Charter, to respond resolutely to any threat and unlawful act” by Tel Aviv, Iravani wrote.
“Iran also declares that it will not hesitate to exercise these rights to defend its security, national interests, and people.”
The envoy further noted that the international community must not remain indifferent to the bellicose anti-Iran threat from an illegitimate regime that wages aggressions, carries out apartheid policies, and sponsors terrorism while possessing an arsenal of weapons of mass destruction alongside advanced conventional weaponry.
Israel, which pursues a policy of deliberate ambiguity about its nuclear weapons, is estimated to have 200 to 400 nuclear warheads in its arsenal, making it the Middle East’s sole possessor of non-conventional arms.
The usurping entity has, however, refused to either allow inspections of its military nuclear facilities or sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Also on Tuesday, Zahra Ershadi, Iran’s deputy permanent representative to the UN, called on the international community to force Israel to join the NPT.