Iran says US nukes endanger intl. community

Tehran says the controversial declaration by the Obama administration, which gives Washington the green light to use nuclear weapons against certain countries, is a step in the wrong direction.

Earlier in the week, US President Barack Obama unveiled the Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), a 22,000-word policy document under which the United States promises not to use nuclear weapons against states that do not possess nuclear warhead, but excludes Iran.

The NPR has provoked a tidal wave of criticism and condemnation in Iran, which has been a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) since 1968, and yet was excluded from the list of non-atomic states that the use of US nukes is banned against.

In a statement released on Friday, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Washington as the possessor of “one of the largest atomic arsenals in the world has put the international community at danger. Moreover, threatening other state with these weapons has escalated insecurity in the international community.”

“The United States is the first country to use these weapons and has perished hundreds of thousands of live in Hiroshima and Nagasaki [during the final days of World War II],” said the statement.

The Iranian foreign minister called on the US to set a deadline for a complete nuclear disarmament.

Mottaki further added that the bedrock of Washington’s new nuclear policy, which allows the application of nukes in some cases, is clearly an extension to the doctrines of the previous administrations and in fact defies US disarmament commitments under article VI of the NPT.

“Reassurances that the US will not use its nuclear weapons [against some countries] are not enough for states that have been repeatedly subjected to double standards and the deceitful policies of US officials,” said the Iranian foreign minister in the statement.