TEHRAN - Iran's ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations has emphasized the need for a decisive position of the countries in the 10th NPT review conference towards Israel based on the resolutions of the previous conferences.

Majid Takht Ravanchi highlighted Israel’s possession of nuclear weapons in the region and called for its denuclearization.

He made the remarks in a briefing with Iranian reporters in New York on Friday.

“The issue of a Middle East free of nuclear weapons is one of the most important issues for the Islamic Republic of Iran,” he told the reporters, according to Iran’s state news agency IRNA. “The issue of the Middle East as a region free of nuclear weapons is one of the important debates that all the countries of this region are suffering from, because the Zionist regime, as the only regime possessing hundreds of nuclear warheads, is not ready to join the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).  And it does not put its nuclear facilities under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency.”

Takht Ravanchi emphasized, “Not only does the Zionist regime not carry out this action, but some countries cooperate with this regime and it is always supported by these countries during the NPT conference and outside it.”

Iran's ambassador to the United Nations continued, “This issue is one of the important issues for the Islamic Republic of Iran. During the 10th NPT Review Conference, we have had a constructive approach in this field and we have announced that the documents that were presented during the previous NPT Review Conferences in 1995, 2000 and 2010 and clearly stated that the Zionist regime should to join the treaty should be discussed and expressed in the text of the final statement of this conference (tenth conference).”

Takht Ravanchi stated “If this issue is not stated in the text of the final statement of this conference, it shows that there is no preparation for the 10th NPT review conference to pass its resolutions by consensus.”

Iran's Permanent Representative to the United Nations emphasized, “In the negotiations, we have said very clearly that we are not ready to back down. This means that this conference should take a position on the Middle East debate that is behind the previous conferences.”

He added, “We have stated that this issue is one of the red lines of the Islamic Republic of Iran. If they want to deal honestly and constructively, the language that was used in the statements of the previous conferences should also be used in this conference in order to move towards a Middle East without nuclear weapons.”

Takht Ravanchi noted, “We are trying to reach a consensus, but we will not do it at any cost; We have a framework and principles, and actions must be taken to reach a consensus. If our red lines are respected, we will definitely welcome to reach a consensus, otherwise we will not reach a consensus.”

Referring to the importance of the 10th NPT Review Conference, Takht Ravanchi pointed to the active and constructive presence of the delegation of the Islamic Republic of Iran and emphasized, “We have a series of red lines that we hope we can reach a consensus with the cooperation of other countries, some of which have mostly not had a good record of having a constructive relationship.”

Iran's ambassador to the United Nations said, “Some countries caused the failure of conferences in the past, for example, in 2015, some Western countries caused the failure of the NPT conference. We hope that they will put aside this conflict in this conference so that we can have a good document and reach a consensus.”

Stating that the delegation of the Islamic Republic of Iran is one of the most active delegations of this conference, Takht Ravanchi considered the issue of nuclear disarmament as one of the other important issues for Iran.

He noted, “Unfortunately, the countries possessing nuclear weapons, contrary to Article 6 of the NPT Treaty, have not fulfilled their obligations and have not moved towards nuclear disarmament while they had committed to moving towards nuclear disarmament in good faith. But not only did they not do such an action, but they have quantitatively and qualitatively upgraded their nuclear weapons and formed a coalition that is against their commitments.”

The Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran continued, “Another important issue for us is the peaceful use of nuclear energy, and as a member of the treaty, we should be able to use the benefits of this treaty (NPT).”

He noted, “Over the years, cruel sanctions have been imposed on Iran and we have been deprived of being able to use its benefits within the framework of the NPT treaty.”

He concluded, “Nuclear weapon states and non-nuclear weapon states are both active in this conference. This conference has been held every five years since 1970, but it was not held two years ago due to the Corona epidemic, and the tenth conference was held this year. The three main axes of this conference are nuclear disarmament, non-proliferation and peaceful use of nuclear energy.”

In the conference, Iran called for more attention to Israel’s nuclear weapons. “The best way to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons in all its aspects is the full and effective implementation of the Treaty’s Articles I to VI and universal adherence to the NPT,” Iran said in a statement to the Subsidiary Body III of the Tenth NPT Review Conference on August 9.

The statement added, “Therefore, we believe that the Review Conference should accord the required attention to this critical issue. In this context, the Israeli regime is a vivid example requiring urgent attention of the Review Conference. Because, this regime possesses all types of weapons of mass destruction and threatens to use them against the regional countries. It has committed various terrorist attacks against nuclear scientists and has also initiated different sabotage attacks against nuclear facilities. Taking into account the totality of this insidious background, the Israeli regime must be forced to join all related instruments, including the NPT, without any precondition and as a non-nuclear party while placing all of its nuclear facilities and activities under the comprehensive safeguards of the IAEA.”

It added, “Unfortunately, certain NWSs [nuclear-weapon states] reward nuclear-armed non-parties with nuclear cooperation and trade in nuclear power reactors. For instance, they continue to provide a great deal of economic and military aid to the only non-party to the NPT in the Middle East. With this kind of assistance, the Israeli regime has afforded to run its un-safeguarded nuclear facilities at which it produces plutonium for its underground nuclear weapons program.”

The statement further noted, “In addition, it is a matter of deep concern that certain States Parties continue to impose unilateral and arbitrary restrictions beyond the IAEA safeguards on the transfer of nuclear materials, equipment, and technology for peaceful purposes. Regrettably, such restrictions are applied to NPT States Parties where non-parties to the Treaty with nuclear weapons arsenal benefit from nuclear cooperation by certain nuclear-weapon States.”