A lawmaker called on the United Nations to drop its discriminatory approach in building international commitment to nuclear disarmament.
In a resolution on Friday, the UN Security Council urged Iran, along with China, the US, North Korea, Egypt, India, Pakistan and the Israeli regime to ratify a treaty banning nuclear explosions, which would allow the deal negotiated 20 years ago to come into force.
“For the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty to be effectively implemented, it should be ratified by all countries and [the push for] its ratification and implementation should not be selective,” Mohammad Javad Jamali also told ICANA on Sunday.
More than 160 countries have ratified the CTBT. Since then India, Pakistan and North Korea have conducted nuclear tests, with Pyongyang conducting its fifth and largest test this month.
The 15-member UN Security Council adopted the US-drafted resolution with 14 votes in favor and an abstention by Egypt, Reuters reported.
It does not impose any legal obligations but adds political weight to the push for the treaty to be enacted.
The UN resolution calls on all states to refrain from conducting any nuclear explosions.
“Definitely, it is important and positive that countries join such treaties. It can prove effective in countering an arms race,” Jamali said. The lawmaker stressed that Iran has repeatedly said it is only after peaceful uses of nuclear energy and does not mind joining such pacts.
US President Barack Obama’s administration has said it would like to ratify the treaty, but a number of US lawmakers, especially Republicans, oppose the ratification of a pact they fear would limit US security options. Russia’s UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said Moscow hoped the next president of the United States would be “more strident in his desire to ratify it.”
The United States is due to elect a new president on Nov. 8. Obama will step down in January. Egypt’s Hisham Badr, assistant foreign minister for multilateral affairs, described the resolution as “substantively flawed and ill-suited to be addressed in the Security Council.”
Jamali reiterated Iran’s criticism of the UN failure in using its mandate to compel Israel to comply with the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
“Currently, the Zionist regime [of Israel] is among the biggest violators of nuclear-related international laws. According to a recent acknowledgement by US officials, it has hundreds of nuclear warheads in its arsenal,” Jamali said.
