Iran Pleased with Success at NPT Meeting

Following Iran’s insistence on the necessity of indiscriminative implementation of all contents of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the first session of the Preparatory Committee for the 2010 NPT Review Conference unanimously approved of Iran’s stance, Tehran’s envoy to IAEA said. Iran on Tuesday objected to a clause inserted in the agenda of the meeting, saying that the agenda should deal with other aspects of the NPT as well.

Speaking to FNA on Tuesday, Iran’s permanent representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Ali Asghar Soltanieh pointed to the political pressures exerted by the US and certain western countries to push Iran into isolation at the meeting, and said, “Owing to the insistence of the Iranian delegation on its primary stance which required full implementation of all the contents of the NPT without any segregation, the conference eventually approved Iran’s stance after 10 days of debates and put it on the agenda of talks.”

The draft agenda for the meeting primarily focused on the necessity of full compliance with the NPT requirements by the member states, but following Iran’s strong objections and its insistence, the participants unanimously approved that the agenda should also deal with the non-compliance of the established nuclear states with article 4 of the NPT, which requires all established nuclear states to help other member states access and use civilian nuclear energy through transferring the technology to the latter group of countries.

As a result of the approval, the Preparatory Committee for the 2010 NPT Review Conference will also study non-compliance of the established nuclear states in its current and future meetings, including those in 2008 and 2009, the envoy said.

The first session of the Preparatory Committee for the 2010 NPT Review Conference was adjourned for five days after two days of operation due to Iran’s objections. Iran’s protest, which pertained to the insertion of a clause into the agenda which unjustly dealt with full compliance with NPT contents by those countries which strive to access and use nuclear technology received wide debates after a large number of delegations from the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), Syria, Indonesia, Algeria, Malaysia, Venezuela and Cuba officially voiced support for Iran’s stance.

Iran and the said delegations protested against the inclusion of only one of the articles of the NPT and ignorance of the rest of the content of the treaty, including dismantlement and disarmament of the nuclear weapon states and implementation of article 4 mentioned above.

At the beginning of the conference, certain countries strove to make hue and cry about Iran’s objection and alleged that Iran sought to push the meeting into failure. Media and diplomats of the same countries also strove to convince the world that Iran is worried about a discussion of its nuclear issue at the meeting.

Soltanieh further said that during the last month, the Non-Aligned Movement has prepared several statements on the different articles of the NPT, which will be announced gradually.

The meeting of the Preparatory Committee for the 2010 NPT Review Conference started on April 30 and will continue till May 11.