- UNITED NATIONS (Dispatches)
-- Iran's Deputy Foreign Ministry for legal and international affairs Gholamali
Khoshroo criticized the nuclear powers for their refraining from fulfilling
their commitments and said the Zionist regime posed the most grave threat
to all Middle Eastern countries as well as the international peace and
security.
-
- Speaking in the meeting of the third Preparatory Committee
for the 2005 NPT Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the
Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons which was held Tuesday in New York,
he pointed out that since 1974 when Iran proposed the idea of a Middle
East free of nuclear arms, all regional countries have done their best
to materialize it.
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- He further regretted that contrary to what was expected
by non-nuclear countries, the collapse of the Soviet Union and end of the
cold war did not bring about revisions in nuclear doctrines but rather
some nuclear countries are seemingly relying on nuclear arms so heavily
that they see no need to eliminate such armaments.
-
- Khoshroo added that lack of security of non-nuclear countries
in the face of use or threat of use of nuclear arms by their owners has
been a source of concern since the very beginning of compiling of the NPT.
-
- Saying that Iran for years had been denied one of its
most basic rights to develop peaceful nuclear energy, he noted that Iran
has pooled its capabilities and resources through many years in this field
while being careful to definitely abide by its commitments and not to neglect
the peaceful nature of such activities.
-
- He went on to express his delight that one-year long
very precise inspections of Iran's nuclear activities by the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have proved that Iran never neglected the peaceful
purposes of its nuclear activities which, he expressed confidence, would
lead to world acknowledgement of peaceful nature of its nuclear activities
and programs.
-
- Commenting on the remarks of US representative in the
present meeting who levelled certain accusations against Iran, Khoshroo
stressed that America lacked the credibility to comment on the degree of
the commitment of countries to the NPT because it has repeatedly ignored
the agreements of international circles regarding the disarmament issues.
-
- He believed the US should first of all provide convincing
explanations to the international community on its own nuclear activities
and also its policy of expanding fresh atomic arms.
-
- The deputy foreign minister further referred to US active
support for the Israel's nuclear programs as a dark record which jeopardizes
all international efforts to monitor and check the Zionists' atomic activities.
-
- He stated that the US pursued particular goals by initiating
a ballyhoo over Iran's nuclear activities.
-
- The IAEA report in 2003 clearly pointed out that no evidence
was available to show that Iran's atomic program were aimed at developing
nuclear arms, he added. Iran Has No More Nuclear Secrets to Reveal
-
- Iran's ambassador to the United Nations in Vienna said
on Wednesday Tehran has no more secrets to reveal to the UN nuclear watchdog
and dismissed accusations it has a covert atom bomb program as baseless.
-
- Asked if this declaration would contain any further surprise
revelations of sensitive nuclear research that might generate controversy,
Iran's UN ambassador Pirooz Hosseini said: "No". "We have
told the IAEA that we are committed to our commitments," Hosseini
told Reuters. "We will hand in the declaration as agreed...We are
doing our utmost to cooperate with the IAEA."
-
- Last month, Vienna diplomats said "Western"
intelligence agencies had passed on intelligence to the IAEA supporting
another exile allegation -- that Tehran has a secret uranium enrichment
program that could produce material for bombs and running parallel to its
declared enrichment program.
-
- "These are baseless allegations. It is an attempt
to disturb our very fruitful cooperation with the IAEA," Hosseini
said.
-
- In June, the IAEA Board of Governors will meet again
to discuss the agency's inspections of Iran's nuclear program. Tehran says
the program is dedicated to the peaceful generation of electricity.
-
- Hosseini said that after the June meeting, Iran wants
to be off the agenda of the IAEA board as a special case. He said that
people in Tehran were growing increasingly impatient with the IAEA's treatment
of the Islamic republic. "We are doing our job. We should not be on
the agenda of the IAEA board as a special case. We are like every other
IAEA member," he said. "People in Iran are asking why we are
on the agenda as a special case when we are cooperating in such a vast
area?" ElBaradei to Visit Israel in July
-
- Chief UN nuclear inspector Mohamed ElBaradei will in
July visit Israel, which has refused to sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty and is believed to have up to 200 nuclear weapons, to promote a
"nuclear weapon-free zone" in the Middle East.
-
- Gabriella Gafni, Israel's ambassador to the IAEA which
ElBaradei heads, told AFP the visit was on for July but said the agenda
has not yet been set. IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said it would be
ElBaradei's first trip to Israel in six years and that he would be carrying
out his mandate from the 137-member agency "to promote non-proliferation
and a nuclear weapon-free zone in the Middle East."
-
- Diplomats close to the IAEA said the visit would be in
the first half of July.
-
- ElBaradei's trip will follow the release from prison
this month of Israeli nuclear whistle-blower Mordechai Vanunu.
-
- The one-time technician at the Dimona nuclear plant in
southern Israel was jailed in 1986 after leaking details of the plant to
a British newspaper.
-
- Vanunu has become a hero of the anti-nuclear movement
and says Israel should rid itself of nuclear weapons and open up Dimona
to international inspection.
-
- Israel is a member of the IAEA but not a signatory to
the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which the IAEA is mandated
to enforce. Israel is thus not a subject of IAEA surveillance and verification.
-
- Arab countries that are members of the IAEA have complained
that Israel's alleged nuclear weapons program is not being investigated,
at a time when countries like Iran are under intense scrutiny from the
UN agency.
-
- ElBaradei said in an interview in the Israeli newspaper
Haaretz in December that Israel should give up its nuclear arsenal.
-
- He called for discussions to be engaged between Israel
and its regional neighbours in order to establish a de-nuclearized zone
and avoid further development of weapons of mass destruction.
-
- "My fear is that without such a dialogue, there
will be continued incentive for the region's countries to develop weapons
of mass destruction to match the Israeli arsenal," ElBaradei told
the liberal Israeli daily.
-
- Gafni reiterated that Israel's policy was to "neither
deny nor confirm" that it has nuclear weapons.
-
- She said this policy would "not change in the very
near future".
-
- Israel has never acknowledged having a nuclear arsenal
but foreign experts believe it has produced between 100 and 200 nuclear
warheads. (Note - Other 'foreign experts' say the figure is closer
- to 500...enough to destroy much of the planet. -ed)
-
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- http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=4/29/2004&Cat=2&Num=032
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