The Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Seyed Abbas Araghchi, addressed the high-level meeting of the United Nations Conference on Disarmament (UNCD) in Geneva on Monday, expressing concern about the grave threat posed by nuclear weapons and their disastrous humanitarian and environmental consequences.
Araghchi called for nuclear disarmament to remain a top priority for the UN and the international community and stressed the need for a comprehensive nuclear weapons convention.
The Iranian foreign minister said: "Non-compliance with legally binding nuclear disarmament obligations, in particular under Article VI of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, undermines the disarmament and arms control regime."
He stressed the need for "the international community has held nuclear-weapon states accountable for fulfilling their international legal obligations."
Araghchi expressed concern about the escalation of armed conflicts amid geopolitical tensions and pointed out that some countries are spending huge sums on the production and stockpiling of weapons under the pretext of security, perpetuating a vicious cycle of insecurity and violence in the region and the world.
He added that the Israeli regime had committed unprecedented and brutal actions in Gaza, such as genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. The Israeli aggression in Gaza has resulted in the destruction of the enclave and the mass killing of more than 46 000 people, mostly children, women and the elderly.
"Never in all of history has such a large number of journalists, medical personnel and UN staff been killed in a single armed conflict," He noted, adding that war crimes, ethnic cleansing, forced displacement and mass starvation committed by the Israeli regime must not go unpunished.
Araghchi stressed: "Weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons possessed by the Israeli regime, remain a serious threat to regional and global peace and security. This prevents the establishment of a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East, first proposed by Iran in 1974."
"The international community must hold this regime accountable, compel it to join the NPT as a nuclear-weapon-free member, irreversibly eliminate its nuclear weapons and subject all its nuclear activities to comprehensive IAEA safeguards," he said.
The Iranian Foreign Minister also stressed the need for the non-weaponization of space and reiterated Iran's consistent position on the peaceful use of space and strongly rejected any attempts to impose unilateral coercive measures that violate the legitimate rights of nations to the peaceful use of space.
The UN Conference on Disarmament, established in 1978, is the only international multilateral forum for disarmament negotiations, with 56 militarily significant states, including Iran, participating. It is responsible for negotiating disarmament and arms control treaties.
At the end of February, the UN Conference on Disarmament holds its annual high-level meeting in Geneva. During the meeting, high-level representatives of Member States present their national positions on important issues relating to international peace, security, disarmament and arms control and participate in consultations and discussions with each other.
mfa.gov.ir/ gnews.cz - RoZ
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