Iran has expressed concerns about the modernization of atomic arsenal by nuclear-weapon states, namely the United States, in breach of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), urging global cooperation towards disarmament.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh made the remarks on Saturday, in commemoration of the 76th anniversary of the US atomic bombing of the Japanese city of Hiroshima.
“The Hiroshima incident shows the fact that the country (the US) spares no inhumane efforts and acts to achieve its illegitimate and irrational objectives,” he said.
“The commemoration of the victims of this tragedy reminds the world of the need to seriously pursue and realize the lofty ideal of a world free of nuclear weapons. It also states that the ominous shadow and constant threat of such arms always endanger international peace and security.”
The US dropped the world’s first atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, destroying the city and killing 140,000 people. It dropped a second bomb three days later on Nagasaki, killing another 70,000.
“Nuclear-weapon states, including the US, have stated their explicit commitment to permanent nuclear disarmament in the framework of international agreements, in particular the NPT,” Khatibzadeh said.
“So far, however, no practical and serious measure has been taken in this regard, while these countries, led by the United States, have been increasingly modernizing their weapons and upgrading the status of nuclear arms in their military-security doctrine.”
The NPT is a landmark international treaty whose objective is to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology, to promote cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy and to further the goal of achieving nuclear disarmament and general and complete disarmament.
Within the framework of its principled policy of international disarmament, Iran has decisively stressed the need for equal and peaceful use of nuclear energy, Khatibzadeh noted.
The Islamic Republic, he added, “always considers the possession, use and threat to use such unconventional weapons contrary to all humanitarian standards and international legal requirements. It also declares its determination to advance and realize the ideal of a world free of nuclear weapons and stands ready to cooperate constructively with the international community.”
"Accordingly, it is necessary that all countries take cooperative practical and legal steps towards full nuclear disarmament under Article 6 of the NPT, far from the biased and political approaches adopted by some nuclear-weapon states."