Fars News Agency :: Iran Raps France, Britain for Upgrading Atomic Arsenals

Soltaniyeh called on nuclear-armed states to meet their international obligations and eliminate their nuclear weapons, and lambasted a number of such countries, including France and Britain, for upgrading their atomic arsenals, despite their commitments to the contrary. The Iranian envoy went on to say that limited reduction in the number of nuclear weapons by some countries must never replace total global eradication of such weaponry and called for the formation of a committee to verify the disarmament process. “The International community cannot wait forever to witness the total elimination of nuclear weapons,” Soltaniyeh said, addressing a nuclear non-proliferation committee in Vienna on Thursday. Iran, an NPT-signatory, has called for the removal of all weapons of mass destruction from across the globe. The UN General Assembly’s First Committee in December approved an Iran-sponsored resolution on nuclear disarmament despite the US and Israeli opposition. The committee, which focuses on disarmament and international security issues, approved the resolution with 118 votes in favor, despite the negative votes by the US, the Israeli regime as well as a number of their European and western allies. The UN General Assembly endorsed the resolution, titled “Pursuing Implementation of Pledges Undertaken by member states in the NPT Review Conferences in 1995, 2000 and 2010”. The resolution calls for accelerating adoption of the necessary measures for the implementation of the member states’ pledges about full dismantlement and annihilation of nuclear arsenals transparently, irreversibly and under international supervision.