President Rouhani asks for global nuclear disarmament

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Thursday urged the world to start immediate efforts to dismantle nuclear weapons worldwide, specially in the Middle-East, and underlined that Israel should sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Addressing the United Nations General Assembly on nuclear disarmament, Rouhani said nuclear weapons have produced nothing but suffering and bitter experience for mankind. Rouhani, who addressed the conference as the President of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) which represents two-third of the world nations, reminded the bitter memories of the US nuking of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and said that any use of a nuclear weapon is "a crime against humanity". "As long as nuclear weapons exist, the threat of their use exists,” Rouhani reiterated. Rouhani said any use of nuclear weapons is a violation against humanity, and added, "The world has waited too long for nuclear disarmament." "Almost four decades of international efforts to establish nuclear weapon-free zones have regrettably failed," he said. "Urgent, practical steps toward the establishment of such a zone are necessary. The international community has to redouble efforts in support of the establishment of this zone." The president further asked the world states to give up nuclear weapons program, and focus their capitals and efforts on wiping out poverty, ignorance and disease. “Let us bestow upon future generations a nuclear weapon-free world,” he said. “This is their right and our responsibility. Let us prove that we are the United Nations, nations united for peace.” He further asked for immediate efforts to establish a Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)-free Middle-East, cautioning that Israel is the only country in the region that has not yet signed the NPT. The Iranian president underscored that all the world countries should be present in the disarmament conference, and that no one should be given a chance to be an exception to this rule. Nuclear disarmament should be implemented in a "comprehensive and non-discriminatory" manner, he reiterated. On the way to full elimination, “nuclear states should refrain from threats or use of such weapons against non-nuclear states under any circumstances,” he said. "Threatening non-nuclear states with nuclear weapons should end. The modernization of these weapons undercuts efforts for their total abolition," Iranian President stressed.