TEHRAN - Iran has proposed that nuclear weapons throughout the world should be dismantled, Ali Akbar Salehi said on Tuesday in the 38th meeting of Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC).
The OIC has proposed many new ideas which have been successfully implemented in recent years, but serious collective cooperation is required to achieve the organization's objectives, Salehi stated.
Salehi also expressed hope that this conference would yield good results for the Islamic nations and said, "Our conference is being held as important developments in the Middle East and North Africa are occurring. The developments indicate the fact that the region is in dire need of change."
Elsewhere in his remarks Salehi said, "Unfortunately, the establishment of a nuke-free Middle East has been held hostage to the Zionist regime's nuclear weapons policies over the past forty years."
"The Zionist regime's persistent defiance to join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and put its nuclear facilities under the International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards have been undermining international efforts to reach regional and global disarmament," he explained.
The senior Iranian diplomat slammed certain countries' support for Israel's nuclear activities and said the West's double-standard approach has endangered global peace.
He went on to say that due to the systematic avoidance of nuclear-armed countries to engage in disarmament talks with a good will, the world today is under the shadow of nuclear threats.
Salehi said that Iran has presented a proposal for a resolution on global nuclear disarmament to the OIC meeting and hopes that it would be ratified.
Salehi further explained that the resolution would form a basis for nuclear disarmament through a binding convention that would forbid the use of weapons of mass destruction.
He also described terrorism as a "global menace" and said that an internationally accepted approach is needed to be adopted to fight against it.
"Selective approaches and double standard policies toward terrorism have overshadowed international confidence and cooperation in fight against such a threat," he added.
The Iranian foreign minister also highlighted the role of the OIC in establishing peace and unity among Muslim nations and said OIC is the only organization that acts as the United Nations Islamic body in uniting 57 countries in four continents.
"The Islamic ummah is facing serious challenges in the drastically changing world today and Islamic countries need to fulfill their roles in order to surmount the challenges," he concluded
© Tehran Times 2011
