Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday rejected allegations Iran is developing nuclear weapons, saying Washington has offered not "a single credible proof." Ahmadinejad was the only head of state participating in month-long Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) review conference in New York that began this morning.
"Regrettably, the government of the United States has not only used nuclear weapons, but also continues to threaten to use such weapons against other countries, including Iran," Ahmadinejad said.
Ahmadinejad was one of the kickoff speakers, turning the treaty discussions into a stage for Tehran’s continued showdown with the West over its uranium enrichment program.
As Ahmadinejad spoke, the US delegation walked out of the General Assembly hall, joined by several European delegations, including the French and British.
US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton suggested over the weekend Ahmadinejad was coming to New York "to divert attention and confuse the issue."
“We're not going to permit Iran to try to change the story from their failure to comply" with the NPT, she said on Sunday's "Meet the Press" on NBC.
Opening the conference, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon directly challenged Tehran.
"The onus is on Iran to clarify the doubts and concerns about its program," the UN chief told the delegates.
The NPT review conference would be a four-week diplomatic marathon meant to produce a consensus final document pointing toward ways to better achieve the NPT's goals of checking the spread of nuclear weapons, while working toward reducing and eventually eliminating them.
There are 189 countries that are the treaty signatories. The exceptions are India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea, all of which have nuclear arsenal. The members gather every five years. Any declaration at the end of the conference to improve the existing NPT treaty would need the consensus of all its 189 members. No country can be singled out in the declaration.
In three of the past seven conferences, delegates failed to produce a declaration. This year, with the full participation and urging of the new US administration, a final declaration is widely expected. President Barack Obama has steered the US back onto a negotiating track, including with a new US-Russian agreement to reduce their thousands of long-range nuclear arms.
Note: The facts about the NPT and its history were provided by the Associated Press (AP).
3 comments:
Well done El Presidente a lion among spineless leaders. Go man Go.
Well done. It is pathetic that the US and its few little lapdogs like Canada, UK and France walkout like spoilt children who can't face the TRUTH. It is a a great success for Iranian diplomacy that over 180 nations applauded Dr. Ahmadinejad's factual and to the point speech in which he denounced all nuclear weapons. US is the only nation to have used nukes on civilians and cities and is threatening to do that again to Iran while the Zionist entity hoards 200 nuclear weapons and has not sighed the NPT. You have to admire Ahmadinejad for his straight talking and fearlessness. VIVA IRAN indeed. Persian Lion roars again.
It is indeed amazing to see how low the US has sunk in its global influence that it could only get the three stooges to stage a walk out rather than engage Iran is a mature diplomatic dialogue. However, it is encouraging to see the Europeans aplaud Iran and work towards a peaceful discussion of all issues. This is not going well for the Zionists who are baying for Iranian blood and are hoarding over 200 nukes.
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