UNITED NATIONS: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Thursday called for global nuclear disarmament and urged Israel to join the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) without further delay.
In this address to a high-level meeting on Nuclear Disarmament during the 68th UN General Assembly session at UN headquarters in New York, Rouhani said no nation should possess nuclear weapons, urging the world to eradicate poverty instead of investing in nukes.
Rouhani also called for a high-level conference on complete elimination of weapons of mass destructions (WMDs) within five years. He said that there should be a nuclear-free zone in the Middle East and urged Israel to sign NPT as it is the only country in the region that has not yet signed the treaty.
The Iranian leader said that the developed world focuses on preventing states without nuclear weapons from acquiring them, but they should also focus on disarming countries that have stockpiled hundreds or thousands of them since Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
“Nuclear weapon states have the primary responsibility for nuclear disarmament,” Rouhani said.
Rouhani further said the implementation of the NPT should be “in a comprehensive and non-discriminatory manner.”
