Reza Najafi, Iran’s Ambassador and permanent representative in International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), on Tuesday told a meeting of Preparatory Committee for 2020 Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference in Vienna that the “Israeli regime,” with “blind support” from the US, is the main obstacle to creating a Middle East free of nuclear weapons.
Najafi said the “nuclear arsenal of the Israeli regime” has caused concerns for being a serious threat against peace and regional security.
Of course, while Israel has been rumored to possess a nuclear bomb since the 1960s, regional states such as Saudi Arabia have only begun urgent programs to attain their own nuclear weapons only after Iran had signed the deal with the Obama Administration and Western Powers freeing it to develop its own nukes in less than ten years.
Najafi pointed to several UN General Assembly resolutions, as well as NPT Review Conference, seeking a nuclear-free region in the Middle East, arguing that only the “stubborn opposition of the Israeli regime” with the “blind support of the US government” prevent this dream from becoming a reality.
In a blatant example of the pot calling the kettle black, Najafi called on Israel to destroy all its nuclear arsenals, thus giving up its “main instrument for blackmailing, aggression, suppression and continuation of its expansionist policies in the region.”
He called on the international community to force Israel to join the NPT and submit all its nuclear installations to the full supervision of IAEA safeguards.