"Regrettably, such mythmaking as Hook’s statement has been typical of the US approaches to nuclear nonproliferation," the ministry said, Tass News Agency reported. "Explicitly twisting commonly known facts, alas, has become a general practice for the representative of one of the world’s biggest powers claiming authority in nuclear nonproliferation."
According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, Hook's statement actually accuses the United Nations Security Council of passing resolutions running counter to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
"This treaty grants all signatory nations the right to peaceful use of nuclear energy. Article IV of the Treaty reads, ‘Nothing in this Treaty shall be interpreted as affecting the inalienable right of all the Parties to the Treaty to develop research, production and use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes without discrimination and in conformity with Articles I and II of this Treaty'," the ministry stressed. "In other words, the treaty places no restrictions on non-nuclear states in terms of uranium enrichment or development of other stages of a nuclear fuel cycle. There is only one condition: all works are to have peaceful purposes and be controlled by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)."
The ministry stressed that voluntary refusal from uranium enrichment, development of the corresponding technical potential and research in this area, as well as similar commitments under bilateral agreements, are the sovereign right of states rather than the "UN standard," as the United States seeks to present it. Moreover, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry, the United States is not implementing this so-called standard and the UN and its Security Council have never supported the United States’ years-long attempts to promote a model depriving non-nuclear nations of their "inalienable right <…> to develop research, production and use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes."
"We reject the attempts to present the United States’ national approaches and requirements as an ‘international standard', especially under the auspices of the UN, as no one has ever authorized the United States to do that," the ministry stressed.
The ministry recalled that the UN sanctions against Iran were never geared to once and for all deprive Iran of its legitimate rights to nuclear research granted by the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty but are rather of a temporary nature. Besides, UN Security Council Resolution 1696 of 2006 stemmed from the necessity to remove some of the IAEA’s doubts and settle the situation around Iran’s nuclear program and all the previous UN resolutions became null and void after the signing of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in 2015.
"The current US administration is obviously unhappy with that. But Washington’s blatant violations of the JCPOA and United Nations Security Council Resolution 2231 that endorsed it are unacceptable for the international community," the ministry said. "Instead of cherishing the idea of nonexistent US-styled ‘UN standards', colleagues from the United States should better think twice about their own international reputation in the sphere on nuclear nonproliferation, stop misleading the world community and take immediate measures to ensure strict compliance with the JCPOA and UN Security Council Resolution 2231."
Hook told a briefing on Friday that his country’s position is that there should be no enrichment for Iran. He alleged that the United Nations passed a resolution in 2006 or 2007 prohibiting Iran from such activities. In his words, it is "the UN standard," which was abandoned in the Iran nuclear deal.
MNA/TASS