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50th IAEA meeting ends with resolution expressing concern over Israel's N-arsenal

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Vienna, Sept 23, IRNA
IAEA-Israel-Nukes
Nuclear experts and representatives of 140 world countries approved a resolution Friday evening sending a serious message to the Zionist regime regarding the world community's concerns over its nuclear arsenal which constitutes a stumbling block to global aspirations to establish a Middle East free of nuclear weapons.

The resolution was passed by a vote of 89 in favor, two against and three abstentions at the end of the 50th seasonal meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna.

The dissenting votes were cast by US and Israel.

By passing the resolution, IAEA members have expressed their serious concern over Israel's notorious nuclear arsenal which is the threat to regional and international security.

A motion was also filed calling on the Zionist regime to dismantle its nuclear arsenal but did not pass due to opposition from certain Western states.

"The (Western) move to block passage of the motion is quite surprising especially since innocent blood has not yet dried up in Lebanon," said Syrian delegate Ibrahim Othman obviously referring to Tel Aviv's month-long offensive in Lebanon which ended last August through a UN-brokered truce.

Othman said Israel's covert nuclear activities in the region is a destabilizing factor in efforts to preserve the balance of power.

Iran was represented in the meeting by Ali-Asghar Soltaniyeh, who said that Iran backs global calls for nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction as a country that is "a main victim" of such weapons.

Recalling the Zionist regime's unprovoked attack on Iraq's Orisak nuclear facility near Baghdad in 1981, Soltaniyeh said that Israel's nuclear capability was indeed the serious threat to regional and international security.

The diplomat regretted the UN nuclear watchdog's inability to pass a resolution declaring Israel as being the nuclear threat to the region and the world as proven by its aggressive history and only managed to issue an official statement by the watchdog's president.

Declaring such a resolution against the Zionist regime to be a "a must at this critical juncture," Soltaniyeh called on the world community to take a firm step to eliminate the Israeli threat.

Non-aligned members of the IAEA, including Venezuela, Cuba and some developing nations like South Africa, strongly supported the idea of an IAEA resolution condemning the Israeli nuclear threat.

Anti-Israel members of the IAEA also expressed anger at the "double standards" in enforcement of international law, rules and regulations as shown in the Western pressure on Iran to shelve its fledgling nuclear energy programs, while Israel continues to defy UN resolutions calling on it to scrap its atomic warheads.

1394/2321/1414