Iran’s UN Envoy: Global Arms Trade Treaty Ratified Hastily Due To Pressures

New York, April 3, IRNA – Iran’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations Gholamhossein Dehghani said pressures of certain countries stopped ratification of the global arms trade treaty with an overwhelming consensus. Outlining Iran’s views at the UN General Assembly on the politically-motivated and imbalanced draft of the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), Dehghani stressed that Iran was in favour of ratifying a treaty which would enjoy unanimous support not the one which would only serve the interests of big arms-exporting countries. He added that the ratified text totally ignored the interests of the arms-importing countries as well as their rights to defend their national interests. Dehghani said the treaty was ignoring the rights of arms-importing countries by granting absolute right to the countries which are exporting arms. Pointing to the ambiguities in the ratified draft, he said the vague points existed where that imports of equipment for non-military purposes could be led to a ban. Referring to the damage Iran has suffered due to irregular import of arms in the Middle East, the politician also said Iran has had an active presence in debates concluding in composition of the draft document hoping that the draft would be ratified with a major consensus while, regrettably, it was hastily adopted due to pressures exerted by certain states. Stressing the US role in compiling the draft document, he said many parts of the ratified text were composed in a way that they would guarantee the interests of certain countries despite the protest of many other countries. Dehghani noted that Iran was after ratification of a document which would reduce the calamities of world people due to use of arms but the draft document suffered shortcomings which persuaded Iran to reject it./end