Of course: Iranian President Rohani calls on Israel to sign NPT
A reminder that I am online tonight because in Israel all holidays except for Rosh HaShanna are one day.
It should come as a surprise to no one that Iranian President Hassan Rohani has called on Israel to sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.
Let's go to the videotape.
Calling for a "nuclear-free zone" in the Middle East, Rouhani said that Israel was the only country in the region that had not yet signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and requested that it do so "without delay."
The developed world focuses on preventing states without nuclear weapons from acquiring them, Rouhani said, but the international community should also focus on disarming countries that have stockpiled hundreds or thousands of them since Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
"Nonproliferation derives its legitimacy from the larger objective of nuclear disarmament," he said, calling for a "high-level" conference within five years geared toward the "complete elimination" of the greatest weapons.
In a veiled reference to a Russian-brokered deal that will rid Syria of its massive chemical weapons stockpile, Rouhani said "all weapons of mass destruction" should be eliminated in the Middle East.
Addressing the General Assembly in his capacity as the head of the Non-Aligned Movement, Rouhani commended the "valuable contribution" of nuclear weapon-free zones to international peace and security. "A peaceful and secure world remains a shared ideal for us all," he said.
"We have an architecture of treaties and norms that aim to achieve this agreed goal, yet thousands of these weapons continue to pose the greatest threat to peace.
"Almost four decades of international efforts to establish nuclear weapon-free zones have regrettably failed," he said. "Urgent, practical steps toward the establishment of such a zone are necessary. The international community has to redouble efforts in support of the establishment of this zone."What Rohani of course fails to mention is that none of the western democracies that have nuclear weapons have ever threatened to use them, whereas countries like Iran and North Korea threaten to do so constantly.
We'll give up our nuclear weapons - if we have them - when the rest of the countries of this region make peace with us and stop calling for our destruction. That's not going to happen in your lifetime or mine.
Labels: Iranian nuclear threat, Israeli nuclear capability, Nuclear Proliferation Treaty
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:20 PM
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