NPT conference's final draft text leaves no chance for modification: Iran
TEHRAN- An Iranian Foreign Ministry official on Saturday voiced objection to the final draft text of the United Nations nuclear disarmament pact, stating that since it is dominated by Western nations, there is no chance for a change in the status quo.
Asadollah Eshraq Jahromi, the director general for international peace and security at the Iranian Foreign Ministry, made the comments at the conclusion of the Tenth Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), which had started at the UN headquarters in New York on August 1.
“Our assessment is that the current draft of the final document leaves no hope for changing the status quo and making some concrete progress towards nuclear disarmament,” he underlined.
Eshraq Jahromi emphasized the necessity for nuclear powers to provide security guarantees to non-nuclear states. However, he issued a warning against the three nuclear armed members of NATO - the U.S., the UK, and France – for dominating the debate with their dangerous attitudes on the matter.
The goal of the NPT is to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, advance full disarmament, and foster cooperation for peaceful use of nuclear energy. Every five years, the NPT is reviewed by its 191 members.
Russia prevented the acceptance of the conference's final draft on Friday by criticizing what it called "political" elements of the document.
Igor Vishnevetsky, the Russian envoy, stated: "Our delegation has one major concern on several passages which are plainly political in character."
As Moscow and Kiev continue to accuse one another of bombarding the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, the most recent draft text has voiced "grave concern" over military activity near the Ukrainian nuclear power plants.
Vishnevetsky said that other nations have concerns about the draft text in addition to Russia.
Eshraq Jahromi also reiterated the Islamic Republic’s policy that Iran places a high priority on the creation of a West Asian region free of nuclear weapons.
He regretted that Iran had not participated in the "non-transparent" and "non-inclusive" process that resulted in the draft text.
The NPT review conferences held in 2000 and 2010 emphasized the necessity for the Israeli regime to ratify the NPT in order to achieve the treaty's objectives in West Asia but this is ignored in the final text this year, he regretted.
"The current text on West Asia has failed to retain what had been accomplished in previous conferences or reflect the events that have taken place since 2010, only because of Washington's hostility," he said.
“The review conference should not hide the basic fact that the Israeli regime is the only party in West Asia that has not joined the NPT and refuses to place its nuclear facilities under the International Atomic Energy Agency’s comprehensive safeguards regime,” Jahromi remarked.
He went on to say that “in addition, Israel, with the help and support of the United States, is blocking all serious international efforts to create a zone free of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction in West Asia.”
Majid Takht Ravanchi, Iran's outgoing ambassador to the UN, lashed out at Israel's refusal to ratify the NPT in similar remarks on Friday. He stated that during the review conference, the Islamic Republic made it clear that it would not budge from its position on the significance of a West Asia free of weapons of mass destruction.