'Iran nuclear summit to ease NPT reform'

Press TV, Sat, 17 Apr 2010 12:28:41 GMT

Iran's top envoy to the UN nuclear watchdog, Ali Asghar Soltanieh (C), attends the opening session of a two-day nuclear disarmament conference in Tehran on April 17, 2010.
Iran's ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has urged pacifist countries to unite efforts in order to reform the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Speaking at a press conference in Tehran on Saturday, Iran's top envoy to the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, suggested that the ongoing international disarmament and nonproliferation summit in Iran could play a significant role in the outcome of next month's NPT conference in New York.

“The message of the talks in Tehran will without a doubt have an effect on the [NPT] review conference and participating countries will walk away with a clearer vision,” Mehr News Agency quoted Soltanieh as saying.

“We are hoping that the conference in Tehran effectively paves the way for the NPT review talks in New York,” he added.

He went on to emphasize that the NPT's first 40 years had not been acceptably productive, warning that the selective policies of the United States had undermined the treaty's credibility.

“The [NPT] conference is selective… and in the absence of a large number of signatory nations and the non-binding nature of its resolutions it does not have to be enforced and lacks executive safeguards,” Soltanieh said.

Soltanieh concluded that the conference in Tehran was the most significant event in the history of nuclear disarmament and portrays the Islamic Republic of Iran's dedication to the rules regulating the peaceful application of nuclear energy.

ZHD/HGH/MMN

Ahmadinejad: Era of Nuclear Threats Over

  April 17, 2010

TEHRAN (FNA)-

The era of nuclear menace and threats to the other world countries has ended, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in remarks widely seen as a response to the United States' recent nuclear threat against Iran.

"They should know that the era of reliance on nuclear weapons has come to an end," Ahmadinejad said, addressing a two-day international conference on nuclear disarmament here in Tehran on Saturday.

"Threatening to use weapons, particularly nuclear weapons, is special to those who lack clear logic and human mentality," Ahmadinejad said, adding, "Using threats against a strong logic belongs to the past and lacks efficiency in relations."

"Threatening to use nuclear weapons just disgraced the American statesmen more than ever and unveiled their inhumane and aggressive policies," the Iranian president reiterated.

Now is the era of the nations, thought and culture, Ahmadinejad said, adding that reliance on weapons in international relations is a heritage bequeathed from uncivilized governments and those who lag behind the history.

Ahmadinejad's comments came in reaction to the recent remarks by US President Barack Obama in which he threatened Iran with a nuclear attack. In its review of the United States' nuclear arms strategy, Washington left open a nuclear strike against countries that have signed a global NPT but stand accused of violating its terms.

Obama, in an interview with the New York Times, said outright that the loophole would apply to "outliers like Iran and North Korea" that the US believes are developing nuclear weapons.

Iran Kicks-off Nuclear Summit

Saturday April 17, 2010 10:43 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC News

Iran has officially started, Saturday, its summit on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation of atomic weapons, the Iranian Press TV reported. The conference will last for two days while the participants will be discussing the issue of nuclear power and disarmament.

Experts from 70 different countries will be participating in the conference dubbed “Nuclear Energy for All, Nuclear Weapon for No One”.

Press TV stated that the main goal of the conference is to raise international awareness on the issue.

Tehran wants to draw international attention to the issue of main world powers that are stockpiling nuclear weapons, and the threats this issue poses on the international level.

It also wants to indicate that the International Atomic Energy Agency has unbalanced standards in dealing with different countries that have nuclear power, mainly Israel and the United States.

Iran also intends to make the point that all countries must be able to obtain “clean and peaceful nuclear energy”, the Press TV added.

Egypt will be participating in the summit despite its strong diplomatic ties with Israel and the United States. Egypt’s relations with Iran has been severed since 1979 but the county is participating by sending diplomats.

The main document of the summit states that the International Community had failed in creating a nuclear-free zone in the Middle East as Israel is refusing to sign any treaty in this regard.