Iran: World can’t wait forever for nukes elimination
Iran’s envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has severely criticized nuclear weapons states for failing to live up to their disarmament commitments, Press TV reports.
“The International community cannot wait forever to witness the total elimination of nuclear weapons,” Ali Asghar Soltanieh said during an address to a nuclear non-proliferation committee in Vienna on Thursday.
Calling on nuclear-armed states to meet their international obligations and eliminate their nuclear weapons, he lambasted a number of such countries, including France and Britain, for upgrading their atomic arsenals, despite their commitments to the contrary.
The Iranian envoy went on to say that limited reduction in the number of nuclear weapons by some countries must never replace total global eradication of such weaponry and called for the formation of a committee to verify the disarmament process.
Last Friday, Soltanieh announced that the new round of talks between Tehran and the IAEA would be held in Vienna on May 13 and 14.
The main aim of the talks, according to him, would be to devise a framework for answering questions about Iran’s nuclear energy program.
Tehran has begun a new round of multifaceted talks with the P5+1 group -- the US, France, Britain, China, and Russia plus Germany.
The two sides met in Istanbul on April 14 where both expressed satisfaction with the general atmosphere of the negotiations.
They have agreed to hold the second part of the renewed negotiations in Baghdad on May 23.