Haaretz
Kislev 29, 5767
Iran demanded Tuesday
that the United Nations Security Council condemn what it said was Israel's
clandestine development and possession of nuclear weapons.
Javad
Zarif, Iran's ambassador to the UN, said in identical letters to the
council and to the secretary-general that the Security Council should
"condemn Israeli regime's clandestine development and possession of
nuclear weapons, compel it to abandon nuclear weapons, [and] urge it to
accede" to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
Zarif said the
Security Council should demand that all of Israel's nuclear facilities be
subject to inspection by the International Atomic Energy Agency and be
placed under its safeguards program.
"Should the Israeli regime
fail to do so, the council must take resolute action under Chapter 7 of
the Charter to ensure compliance," he said.
Chapter 7 of the UN
Charter, which authorizes a range of measures from diplomatic and economic
sanctions to military action.
Iran insists its own nuclear program
is purely peaceful to develop nuclear energy, but the United States and
many European nations believe Tehran's real aim in enriching uranium is to
produce nuclear weapons.
The Security Council is currently debating
a resolution that would impose sanctions on Iran for refusing to suspend
its enrichment program.
Zarif said in the letters that the
council's actions would show whether it was acting under the UN Charter or
as "a tool" for a few permanent members who have encouraged Israel "to
persist in its lawless behavior with impunity."
The statement may
be in reference to the U.S., Israel's closest ally, which would almost
certainly veto any council resolution on Israel's nuclear
program.
Zarif said Israel was the only obstacle to establishing a
nuclear weapons-free zone in the Middle East.
"Peace and stability
cannot be achieved in the Middle East while the massive Israeli nuclear
arsenal continues to threaten the region and beyond," he
said.
Zarif said Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's recent
comments in a German television interview constituted not only a public
admission of the country's nuclear weapons but a public boast of how
dangerous they are.
Israel has a long-standing policy of ambiguity
on nuclear weapons, refusing to confirm or deny whether it has them. But
in the German TV interview broadcast December 12, Olmert listed Israel
among countries that possess nuclear weapons.
Israel's UN Mission
had no immediate comment on Zarif's letters.
The Iranian ambassador
insisted in the letters, obtained by the Associated Press, that Olmert's
comments were a clear admission that Israel possessed nuclear weapons in
violation of international law, the UN Charter, and numerous Security
Council and General Assembly resolutions.
"Nuclear weapons in the
hands of a regime with an unparalleled record of noncompliance with
Security Council resolutions and a long and dark catalogue of crimes and
atrocities such as occupation, aggression, militarism, state-terrorism,
and crimes against humanity, poses a uniquely grave threat to regional as
well as international peace and security," Zarif claimed.
He called
on the council to fulfill its responsibility under the UN Charter "to
address such a clear and serious threat to international peace and
security."