TEHRAN – An Iranian diplomat said on Tuesday that Israel is preventing a Middle East free of nuclear weapons.

“The Zionist regime is the only obstacle to achieve this goal,” Gholam-Hossein Dehqani, the deputy permanent representative of Iran to the UN, told a General Assembly meeting.

Dehqani also said Iran is “deeply concerned” about the lack of progress for a global nuclear disarmament.

“No significant progress has been made in fulfilling nuclear weapons disarmament’s commitments based on Article 6 of Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT),” Dehqani regretted.

He said the current complicated situation has resulted from lack of “political will” and this evil “doctrine” that equals nuclear weapons to security.

A “comprehensive strategy” should be adopted in order to have a world without nuclear weapons, the diplomat added.

He also slammed some countries’ double standards in adopting policies toward nuclear weapons disarmament.

NA/PA