Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) has failed and Iran will propose changes, as he left for New York yesterday to take part in a conference to review the NPT.
The Iranian leader is to address the NPT conference today, at the head of a delegation including Iran’s atomic chief Ali Akbar Salehi and Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki.
“The biggest threat to the world today is the production and stockpiling of nuclear weapons. For more than 60 years, the atomic threat has influenced world relations,” Ahmadinejad told reporters before leaving for New York.
“The IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] in the past 40 years has not been successful in its mission. We have no disarmament or non-proliferation and some countries have even procured the nuclear bomb during this period,” he said.
Iran is a signatory of the NPT, a creation of the IAEA, the UN nuclear watchdog, and as such has the right to enrich uranium — the most controversial part of its nuclear program.
Uranium when enriched at over 90 percent level can be used to make an atomic bomb.
Washington, its ally Israel — believed to be the only undeclared nuclear weapons power in the Middle East — and other world powers accuse Iran of masking a weapons drive under the guise of what Tehran says is a purely civilian atomic program.
Ahmadinejad, who has refused to abandon the uranium enrichment program and often lashes out at the NPT structure, said Iran’s delegation would propose changes to the treaty during the review conference.
“This is an important meeting. For some time now, committees have been formed to undertake a fundamental revision [of the NPT] in order to achieve the aims for which the IAEA was formed,” he said, quoted by Fars news agency.
“It is necessary to participate in this meeting at the highest level to offer the Iranian nation’s proposals to the world. If this meeting is successful in making fundamental reforms to the NPT, it will be a big stride forward towards world security,” he said.
Ahmadinejad is expected to defend Iran’s right as a signatory to the NPT to master the nuclear fuel cycle, including uranium enrichment.
He is also expected to urge other NPT signatories to pressure Israel to sign the treaty, at a time when Washington is pressing world powers to impose a fourth round of UN sanctions against Tehran for defiantly enriching uranium.
Ahmadinejad’s press adviser Ali Akbar Javanfekr said Iran’s “constructive” proposals should be heard by US President Barack Obama.
“The proposals are in line with the slogans of change that Mr Obama makes. If he still believes in what he says, he should welcome Mr Ahmadinejad’s proposals,” Javanfekr said, quoted by the official IRNA news agency.
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