Iran warns of non-compliance with nuclear disarmament obligations
‘Israel should be forced to join NPT’
Iran warned that non-compliance with legally binding obligations related to nuclear disarmament by the world’s countries would lead to weakening the disarmament and arms control convention, stressing that the United Nations should put the issue high on its agenda.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in an address to the High-Level Segment of the UN Conference on Disarmament in the Swiss city of Geneva on Monday, expressed concern about the serious threat of nuclear weapons and its catastrophic human and environmental consequences, calling for maintaining the issue of nuclear disarmament as the top priority of the UN and the international community.
The Iranian minister pointed to the erosion of key nuclear arms control agreements, stressing the necessity of the conclusion of a comprehensive convention on nuclear arms.
He warned against widespread non-compliance with legally binding obligations related to nuclear disarmament, particularly under Article VI of the NPT.
“Regrettably, there is no promising prospect for change in the foreseeable future. The international community rightfully expects the nuclear-weapon states to be held accountable for their obligations,” he said.
“Despite the increasing likelihood of a nuclear war - driven mainly by modernization efforts and an escalating nuclear arms race - nuclear-weapon states, in particular the United States, are significantly increasing their budgets for nuclear weapons programs.”
Simultaneously, he added, countries like Britain are expanding their nuclear stockpiles and lowering the threshold for possible nuclear weapon use.
The Iranian foreign minister said the world is currently witnessing increasing resort to the use or threat of force, military intervention, unilateral coercive measures, and political pressure, in disregard to the longstanding commitments to disarmament and arms control.
“This is an alarming trend that must be reversed immediately,” he said.
“The only guaranteed safeguard against their use or threat lies in their complete and verifiable elimination, accompanied by legally binding assurances of non-production, avoidance of nuclear sharing, as well as non-formation of nuclear military alliances,” Araghchi stated.
The Iranian foreign minister also said the international community must push the Israeli regime to join the NPT and put all its nuclear facilities under the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Safeguards.
“The international community must hold this regime accountable, and demand that it renounce the possession of nuclear weapons, accede to the NPT as a non-nuclear-weapon party, and subject all its nuclear facilities and activities to the comprehensive IAEA Safeguards,” he said.
He said the weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons possessed by the Israeli regime, continue to pose a grave threat to regional and global peace and security.
The minister emphasized that the Israeli regime is hindering the establishment of a nuclear-weapon-free zone in West Asia and continues to threaten others with nuclear annihilation.
Israel is estimated to possess 200 to 400 nuclear warheads in its arsenal, making it the sole possessor of non-conventional arms in West Asia.
It has refused to either allow inspections of its nuclear facilities or sign the NPT.
Araghchi cited the evil suggestion of using nuclear weapons against the people of Palestine in the Gaza Strip as a vivid example of the Israeli regime’s outlawed action.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres also addressed the conference.
He said that security arrangements that have supported global peace for decades are unravelling.
“The bilateral and regional security arrangements that underwrote global peace and stability for decades are unravelling before our eyes,” Guterres said.
“Trust is sinking, while uncertainty, insecurity, impunity and military spending are all rising,” Guterres added.