Iran urges intl. nuclear disarmament

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Mehdi Akhoundzadeh has stressed the importance of complete nuclear disarmament in the world, saying Iran is developing new initiatives in this regard.

“Iran calls for worldwide nuclear disarmament and pioneers new movements to this effect,” Akhoundzadeh said in a Wednesday meeting with Germany’s Deputy Foreign Minister Wolf Ruthart Born in the Iranian capital city, Tehran.

“The Islamic Republic is firm in this path and pretexts provided by certain extremist powers will have no impact on Iran’s peaceful nuclear program,” he noted.

The Iranian official added that the two-day international conference on disarmament, dubbed “Nuclear Energy for All, Nuclear Weapons for None” held in Tehran in April, 2010, was widely welcomed and pointed out that Iran would host the second meeting in the near future.

The first conference was attended by representatives from dozens of countries as well as nuclear disarmament experts and representatives from Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO).

Akhoundzadeh also criticized Western countries for their double standards on global issues, including human rights, and stressed that interaction and dialogue would be a “constructive” solution to ongoing woes.

Iran, among the original countries to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), was the first nation that proposed the establishment of a Middle East region free from nuclear weapons.

Iranian officials have repeatedly refuted allegations leveled by the US and its allies that Iran is developing a military nuclear program, arguing that as a signatory to the NPT and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Tehran has a right to peaceful nuclear technology.

The United States has exerted pressure on the UN Security Council to impose a fourth round of sanctions against Iran’s financial and military sectors in June.