Nuclear Powers unaccountable in arms expansion
As global disarmament talks begin in Paris, a senior Iranian nuclear official lashes out at atomic powers for holding themselves “unaccountable” in the face of international law.
“Powers, who themselves have used atomic weapons, are testing new generations of nuclear arms, instead of giving into the international disarmament regulations,” Iran’s top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili said in Tehran on Tuesday.
“They are even thinking of expanding these weapons. They hold themselves accountable to no authority whatsoever,” he added.
While the former US President George W. Bush was in office, the Pentagon began a campaign for a return to nuclear testing, based on the scheme that the current US nuclear arsenal would not be adequate for the future.
Washington has also sought to develop new ‘low-yield’ nuclear weapons and improved nuclear bunker buster bombs to penetrate what it describes as hardened targets buried deep underground.
Jalili’s comments come as the ‘Global Zero’ Summit against Nuclear Weapons kicks off in the French capital, bringing together some 200 political, military, business and spiritual leaders in the hope of finding a way to a total nuclear disarmament.
Speaking ahead of the summit, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon called for meaningful steps to move forward the world’s nuclear disarmament agenda.
He also warned of the serious threat that nuclear arsenals continue to pose to the global security.
“Nuclear weapons threaten our security. And every dollar spent on weapons is one less spent on schools, life-saving medicine, or research into life-affirming technologies,” he said, in a video message to international officials gathered in Paris.
“There is a need for action at these sessions — meaningful steps that move us forward,” he added, referring to the summit underway and similar upcoming events such as the Summit on Nuclear Security in Washington, just two months away, followed by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference in May.
