The Iranian ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Reza Najafi made the remarks in an address to the first session of the Preparatory Committee for the 2020 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons in the Austrian capital city of Vienna on Tuesday.
He went on to add that sustained international pressure on Israel is needed to compel the regime to accede immediately and unconditionally to the NPT and to place all of its nuclear facilities under complete safeguards of the IAEA.
“The elimination of nuclear arms and establishment of a nuclear-weapon-free zone is particularly important in the Middle East, where the nuclear weapons of the Israeli regime are a matter of concern and a serious threat to regional and international peace and security,” he stressed.
Najafi further highlighted that Israel with full support of the US is the key obstacle to the establishment of nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East.
“Once Israel accedes to the NPT and eliminates all its nuclear arsenal under a nuclear-weapon-free region, it will lose its main tool for blackmail, aggression, suppression and expansionist policies in the region,” he added.
“Iran’s membership at many international disarmament treaties and conventions as well as its continued cooperation with the IAEA on peaceful nuclear activities indicate the Islamic Republic’s full compliance with the realization of NPT in the Middle East,” Najafi concluded.
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