Iran, US FMs to meet on sidelines of NPT forum in New York
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and US Secretary of State John Kerry will meet on the sidelines of a UN anti-nuclear weapons conference in New York.
Zarif and Kerry are set to hold the meeting on the sidelines of the 2015 Review Conference of the Parties to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) on Monday.
It will be the first meeting between the top Iranian and US diplomats since Iran and the P5+1 - the United States, France, Britain, Russia and China plus Germany – reached a mutual understanding on the parameters of a comprehensive agreement over Tehran’s nuclear program in the Swiss city of Lausanne on April 2.
Iran and the P5+1 countries ended their latest round of talks at the deputy and expert levels in Vienna, Austria, on April 24. The three-day talks were held with the goal of drafting the text of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) based on the mutual understanding reached in Lausanne.
Zarif is also scheduled to hold separate meetings with EU foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, and some foreign ministers of the P5+1 group.
Iran's foreign minister will be the first state party to the NPT to address its 190 signatories at the United Nations headquarters in New York on behalf of the 118 members of the Non-Aligned Movement that have signed the NPT as the world's benchmark disarmament pact.
Speaking to Press TV upon his arrival in New York early Monday, Zarif said Israel is the main impediment to the universality of the NPT.
“Unfortunately, Israel’s possession of nuclear weapons and its refusal to engage with the international community has become the greatest impediment to the universality of this treaty,” Zarif told Press TV.
The Israeli regime is widely believed to be the sole possessor of a nuclear arsenal in the Middle East with up to 400 undeclared nuclear warheads. Tel Aviv has rejected global calls to join the NPT and does not allow international bodies to inspect its controversial nuclear program.
The NPT review conference, slated to be held from April 27 to May 22 at the UN headquarters, will address issues such as nuclear disarmament, nuclear non-proliferation, safeguards measures and the peaceful use of nuclear energy.
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