Time to Spotlight US Nuclear Double Standards

The US refusal to commit itself to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which was endorsed in a recent UN meeting, could be spotlighted to counter the US double standards against Iran, a lawmaker said.

None of the countries possessing nuclear weapons—the United States, Russia, Britain, China, France, India, Pakistan and North Korea plus the Israeli regime—backed the legally binding document and many of their allies followed suit.

"The UN's Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons can be used to condemn the US for its double standards," Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh said in a talk with ICANA on Monday.

"Every year, the United Nations reminds the US of its non-commitment to international agreements, which is a significant blow to its global status."

In a joint statement, UN ambassadors from the US, Britain and France said their countries do not intend to ever become party to the treaty.

The treaty "clearly disregards the realities of the international security environment" and "is incompatible with the policy of nuclear deterrence, which has been essential to keeping the peace in Europe and North Asia for over 70 years", the statement read.

Washington and Tehran were engaged in a decade-long dispute over US allegations of military aspects to Iran's nuclear program.

The Islamic Republic has consistently denied those accusations and insists its nuclear work is only for peaceful applications.

Negotiations to settle that dispute led to the 2015 nuclear deal. It scaled down Tehran's nuclear activities in return for easing US, UN and EU sanctions.

  Victim of WMD

In his address to the UN's Saturday session, Iran's ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Reza Najafi, hailed the adoption of the document.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran strongly supports the objective of the treaty that bans possessing, using or threatening to use nuclear weapons in the world. Iran is itself a victim of weapons of mass destruction," he said, highlighting the religious decree issued by the Leader of Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, which forbids any use of nuclear arms.

Elayne Whyte Gomez, president of the UN conference, said the vote was "historic", emphasizing that the treaty was "the first multilateral nuclear disarmament treaty to be concluded in more than 20 years".

"It's been seven decades since the world knew the power of destruction of nuclear weapons and since day one, there was a call to prohibit nuclear weapons," she said.

Najafi reminded the threat posed by Israel's nuclear weapons in the Middle East. He also pointed out that Iran's proposal for the establishment of a nuclear weapon-free zone in the Middle East is an example of the country's efforts to rid the region of the threat.

Israel, which pursues a policy of the so-called deliberate ambiguity about its nuclear bombs, is estimated to have 200 to 400 nuclear warheads in its arsenal.

It has refused to allow inspections of its military nuclear facilities or sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. 

The nuclear ban treaty will be opened for signatures in September and come into force after 50 countries ratify it.

It came 70 years after the US military's deadly atomic bombing of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II.