Iran slams UN ‘politicization, abuse’ of WMD non-proliferation regimes

Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations has lambasted the UN Security Council for the "politicization and abuse" of non-proliferation and disarmament regimes pertaining to the Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD).

Majid Takht Ravanchi made the remarks in a statement read at an informal meeting of the UNSC on Friday.

He stressed that the only “absolute guarantee” against the use of the WMD is to eliminate them all and to ensure that they will never be developed, a “noble objective” that clearly demonstrates the “inherent value” of non-proliferation and disarmament regimes.

“Nevertheless, the authority of such regimes and the credibility of relevant international institutions have seriously been challenged and undermined in the past decades, ironically in most cases, not by those seeking to develop WMDs but by those who have abused non-proliferation regimes to advance their own interests,” Takht Ravanchi added.

Iran’s permanent envoy to the UN pointed to some examples that prove the dual approach adopted by the Western member states of the UNSC regarding the WMD and non-proliferation and disarmament regimes.

Takht Ravanchi said the UNSC was “dead silent” when Iraq’s former dictator, Saddam Hussain, killed thousands of Iranian and Iraqi citizens by using chemical weapons during the Iran–Iraq War in the 1980s.

“It was the case when Iraq was invaded by Western countries based on completely false WMD-related claims. The Council is again silent when Syria has been under extreme pressure in recent years because certain powers are abusing the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to advance their illegitimate interests in that country,” he added.

Takht Ravanchi also said Iran, likewise, was put under unprecedented UN sanctions until 2016 just because certain Western powers, under the so-called proliferation concerns, accused Iran of seeking nuclear weapons, while Tehran has repeatedly said that it only pursue a peaceful nuclear program.

Nevertheless, Israel, which has already developed all types of WMDs and refused to join international treaties prohibiting such deadly weapons, is not held accountable by the UNSC since it is shielded by the United States, he further said. 

“We also strongly reject all efforts undermining the CWC’s authority and the OPCW’s credibility and call for the balanced, full, and non-discriminatory implementation of the CWC and upholding the authority of the OPCW,” Takht Ravanchi concluded.

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