Lack of Progress in Attaining NPT Objectives Deplored 

A senior Iranian diplomat voiced concern over the lack of progress in the implementation of the 1995 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty resolution and the 2010 action plan on the Middle East, stressing that Israel must eliminate its stockpile of nuclear weapons.
Iran’s ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations, Majid Takht-Ravanchi, made the remarks in an address to the Tenth Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons at the UN headquarters in New York on Monday.
He said positions adopted by nuclear weapon states, echoed and supported by the so-called umbrella states, including their attempt to replace nuclear disarmament with nuclear risk reduction, are contrary to their legal obligations concerning nuclear disarmament, IRNA reported.
Takht-Ravanchi denounced the US double standards, saying Israel’s accession to the NPT “without precondition and further delay” and the placement of all of its nuclear activities and facilities under the comprehensive International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards are “essential in realizing the goal of universal adherence to the Treaty in the Middle East and the establishment of a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East.”
He noted that the Iranian delegation has contributed constructively to the discussions and draft reports of the ongoing NPT review conference, expressing regret that none of the draft reports garnered consensus “due to some imbalanced contents.”
“Three weeks of intense negotiations reveal that the NWS do not have the determination and political will to accept any concrete commitments or timetable, benchmarks or targets that are required for making progress in our negotiations on nuclear disarmament pillar,” Takht-Ravanchi said.

Long Overdue 

“I would like to add that establishing a Middle East zone free of weapons of mass destruction is long overdue after the consensual adoption of the resolution 1995.”
He said a detailed plan of action was adopted by consensus to ensure the success of a conference which was to be convened in 2012 with the participation of all Middle Eastern countries on the establishment of a Middle East zone free of nuclear weapons and all other weapons of mass destruction.
“However, after delays in convening the conference, at the first, second and third sessions of the Preparatory Committee, in 2012, 2013, and 2014, the NAM [Non-Aligned Movement] and regional countries warned that any further delay in convening the 2012 conference would seriously jeopardize the overall implementation of the conclusions and recommendations for follow-on actions and would represent a major setback in that regard,” the Iranian envoy said.
“Now, we expect the current conference to reject the impediments to convening the conference. The failure to convene the conference in 2012 contradicts and violates the collective agreement of the state parties contained in the conclusions and recommendations for follow-on actions adopted by the 2010 Review Conference and contravenes the letter and spirit of the 1995 resolution on the Middle East.”
Israel, which pursues a policy of deliberate ambiguity about its nuclear weapons, is estimated to possess 200 to 400 nuclear warheads in its arsenal, making it the sole possessor of non-conventional arms in West Asia.
The regime has refused to either allow inspections of its military nuclear facilities or sign the NPT.
Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kanaani in July warned that the Israeli regime’s advanced atomic military program poses a serious threat to international security and the NPT, urging the UN nuclear agency to fulfill its responsibility in this regard.
“The advanced atomic military program of the apartheid Israeli regime and the regime’s continued objection to placing its nuclear facilities under the Safeguards Agreements [of the International Atomic Energy] Agency and not joining the Non-Proliferation Treaty are serious threats to international security and the non-proliferation regime," Kanaani said.