Iran To Attend MENWFZ Conference If Israel Accepts NPT : Soltanieh

Moscow, Oct 6, IRNA – Iran could attend The Middle East Nuclear Weapon Free Zone (MENWFZ) Conference only if Zionist regime accepts to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Iran's Ambassador to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Ali Asghar Soltanieh said here on Friday. He made the remarks at the preliminary meeting of the MENWFZ Conference in Moscow. Finland will host the 2012 conference to start talks on proposed nuclear weapons free Middle East. “Iran has not already decided to attend the MENWFZ conference; the conference will be held to fulfill a resolution proposed by the US, Russia, UK and UN Secretary General in 1999; although Iran had some considerations towards the issue but voted for the resolution.” The high-ranking official noted that Iran supports the idea but Tehran also expects the international community to convince Zionist regime to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) as a first step towards that objective. “Iran could attend the MENWFZ conference if Tel-Aviv fulfills its international obligation for signing the NPT; since the occupying force of Zionist regime as a nuclear-armed entity has not signed the NPT, and thus this international treaty is under question. He added, 'Tehran has not threatened the Zionist regime by encouraging the world countries to launch war against Tel Aviv during the past three decades but Tel-Aviv has threatened Tehran to war for many times against the international rules and regulations, and has been encouraging the US to do so on its behalf.” He asserted that the Iranian officials’ remarks about the vanishing of Zionist regime does not mean the physical vanishing of Palestinian occupied lands but Iranians hope that all similar occupying ideas would fade away. “Not having relation with the Zionist regime is not the Islamic Republic high-ranking officials’ politically motivated idea but it has been emphasized in the county’s constitution.” Soltanieh criticized also the continued occupation of the Palestinian territories by the occupying force of the racist Zionist regime. “The Palestinian territories belong to all of its inhabitants regardless of their religion.” The Middle East nuclear weapon free zone (MENWFZ) treaty is a proposed agreement based on the already existing eight (nine including the outer space) Nuclear-weapon-free zones worldwide. Steps towards the establishment of such a zone began in the 1960s led to a joint declaration by Egypt and Iran in 1974 which resulted in a General Assembly resolution (broadened in 1990 to cover weapons of mass destruction). Such a zone would strengthen the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), would help to promote global nuclear disarmament and would also help the Middle East peace process as substantial confidence-building measures. The occupying force of Zionist regime is the only Mideast regime with a nuclear arsenal, which was developed in the 1960s. Tel-Aviv has opposed even discussing nuclear demilitarization and has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Iran, an NPT-signatory, has also called for the removal of all weapons of mass destruction from across the globe. In pursuit of global nuclear disarmament, Tehran held a conference on nuclear disarmament on April 18-19, 2010 with officials from different world countries in attendance. During the two-day conference, the world officials and politicians put their heads together to address issues and concerns in connection with nuclear disarmament. Despite Iran's compliance with the NPT, Washington and its western allies accuse the country of trying to develop nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian nuclear program, while they have never presented any corroborative evidence to substantiate their allegations. Iran denies the charges and insists that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only. Political observers believe that the United States has remained at loggerheads with Iran mainly over the independent and home-grown nature of Tehran's nuclear technology, which gives the Islamic Republic the potential to turn into a world power and a role model for the other third-world countries. Washington has laid much pressure on Iran to make it give up the most sensitive and advanced part of the technology, which is uranium enrichment, a process used for producing nuclear fuel for power plant./end