Iran: "Israel" greatest obstacle to WMD-free Middle East
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"Israel" does not commit to the non-nuclear proliferation treaty, and continues to develop nuclear weapons.
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Iran's Permanent Deputy Representative to the UN, Zahra Ershadi.
The permanent Iranian deputy ambassador to the United Nations, Zahra Ershadi, in her speech delivered to the United Nations Disarmament Commission on Tuesday, explained that "Israel" is the main obstacle to making Middle East a WMD-free zone.
Ershadi pointed to "Israel" being notorious for committing numerous attacks against Iranian nuclear scientists and nuclear facilities.
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She explains that as the world faces global threats and challenges from WMDs, worsening global insecurity, the situation should've brought the international community together - instead, however, the world witnesses an ongoing escalation of political and military tentions, including threats of use of nuclear weapons against non-nuclear countries.
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Countries like the US and UK retain and increase their budgets for their nuclear weapon programs - the UK, for instance, have increased their stockpile ceiling of nuclear weapons by up to 44%.
According to Ershadi, "The demise of arms control agreements, erosion of the international arms control architecture, and more importantly, the lack of concrete action in implementing the legally binding obligations of the NWSs [Nuclear War Skills, a civil defense manual] on nuclear disarmament and a lack of such a prospect in the future, severely endanger international peace and security."
Iran, according to the representative, is the first country to propose the establishment of a Middle East Zone Free of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs) to the UN - however, "Israel" is a significant obstacle in the face of "this noble goal."
"It possesses all types of WMD and threatens to use them against the regional countries," she said. "This regime has committed various terrorist attacks against nuclear scientists and has also initiated different sabotage attacks against nuclear facilities.
"Therefore, it must be forced to join all related instruments, including the NPT [Non-nuclear proliferation Treaty], without any precondition and as a non-nuclear party must place all its nuclear facilities and activities under the comprehensive safeguards of the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency]."
She reiterated that "outer space and other celestial bodies are humanity's common heritage and must be used only for peaceful purposes."
There was a deep expression of concern over Washington's weaponization of outer space, "including the negative implications of the development and deployment of anti-ballistic missile defense systems and the pursuit of advanced military technologies capable of being deployed in outer space which has, inter alia, contributed to the further weakening of an international climate conducive to the promotion of disarmament and the strengthening of international security."
Although Iran has been repeatedly accused, by the US, "Israel", and even Saudi Arabia, of being a threat to world peace, Ershadi stressed that the IAEA has repeatedly confirmed the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear activities.
