Subscribe to Print Edition | Fri., March 07, 2008 Adar2 1, 5768 | | Israel Time: 09:55 (EST+7) web haaretz.com   Back to Homepage Rosner's Domain Diplomacy Defense Jewish World Opinion National Print Edition Advertising Books Arts & Leisure Business Real Estate Easy Start Travel Week's End Anglo File

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. (Archive) Last update - 07:47 20/12/2006 Iran: UN should condemn Israel's 'clandestine' nuclear weapons By The Associated Press Iran demanded Tuesday that the United Nations Security Council condemn what it said was Israel's clandestine development and possession of nuclear weapons. Javad Zarif, Iran's ambassador to the UN, said in identical letters to the council and to the secretary-general that the Security Council should "condemn Israeli regime's clandestine development and possession of nuclear weapons, compel it to abandon nuclear weapons, [and] urge it to accede" to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. Zarif said the Security Council should demand that all of Israel's nuclear facilities be subject to inspection by the International Atomic Energy Agency and be placed under its safeguards program. Advertisement "Should the Israeli regime fail to do so, the council must take resolute action under Chapter 7 of the Charter to ensure compliance," he said. Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which authorizes a range of measures from diplomatic and economic sanctions to military action. Iran insists its own nuclear program is purely peaceful to develop nuclear energy, but the United States and many European nations believe Tehran's real aim in enriching uranium is to produce nuclear weapons. The Security Council is currently debating a resolution that would impose sanctions on Iran for refusing to suspend its enrichment program. Zarif said in the letters that the council's actions would show whether it was acting under the UN Charter or as "a tool" for a few permanent members who have encouraged Israel "to persist in its lawless behavior with impunity." The statement may be in reference to the U.S., Israel's closest ally, which would almost certainly veto any council resolution on Israel's nuclear program. Zarif said Israel was the only obstacle to establishing a nuclear weapons-free zone in the Middle East. "Peace and stability cannot be achieved in the Middle East while the massive Israeli nuclear arsenal continues to threaten the region and beyond," he said. Zarif said Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's recent comments in a German television interview constituted not only a public admission of the country's nuclear weapons but a public boast of how dangerous they are. Israel has a long-standing policy of ambiguity on nuclear weapons, refusing to confirm or deny whether it has them. But in the German TV interview broadcast December 12, Olmert listed Israel among countries that possess nuclear weapons. Israel's UN Mission had no immediate comment on Zarif's letters. The Iranian ambassador insisted in the letters, obtained by the Associated Press, that Olmert's comments were a clear admission that Israel possessed nuclear weapons in violation of international law, the UN Charter, and numerous Security Council and General Assembly resolutions. "Nuclear weapons in the hands of a regime with an unparalleled record of noncompliance with Security Council resolutions and a long and dark catalogue of crimes and atrocities such as occupation, aggression, militarism, state-terrorism, and crimes against humanity, poses a uniquely grave threat to regional as well as international peace and security," Zarif claimed. He called on the council to fulfill its responsibility under the UN Charter "to address such a clear and serious threat to international peace and security. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Hunting journalists Who leaked the details of a CIA-Mossad plot against Iran? Farming organic At Or-Gani, Israel's organic revolution is taking on new forms.   1.   Israel Has Unlimited Get Out Of Jail Free Cards 01:53  |  Guy From NYC 20/12/06   2.   Honestly, who is really scared of Israel`s nukes 01:56  |  Robert 20/12/06   3.   guy from nyc 02:20  |  smit 20/12/06   4.   Handwriting Analysis of Iran`s NPT Signature Reveals Dubious ... 02:33  |  Lavi 20/12/06   5.   Australians worries 02:38  |  David King 20/12/06   6.   To #2: I`m scared. Israel is the only country that WILL use Nukes 02:46  |  John from Canada 20/12/06   7.   give me a break 02:54  |  vik 20/12/06   8.   #2 Robert, who makes a strange claim 02:59  |  Johnboy 20/12/06   9.   Just another brick in the wall 03:03  |  J Olsen 20/12/06   10.   Iran wants to turn the tables 03:07  |  zionist forever 20/12/06   11.   BE SILENT 03:22  |  Federico Glez 20/12/06   12.   D.KING.Where was the survey of worried Australians published? 03:29  |  Peter SM 20/12/06   13.   #6 scared john 03:34  |  SG 20/12/06   14.   David King 03:59  |  George 20/12/06   15.   Re: Smit to Guy From NYC 04:22  |  Guy From NYC 20/12/06   16.   Johnboy: The Patriot Missiles of Iraq War 1 04:30  |  Guy From NYC 20/12/06   17.   John: Armchair Airhead or ME Expert? 04:47  |  Lavi 20/12/06   18.   Who´s the world menace? 05:13  |  Niva dos Santos 20/12/06   19.   Iran should actually be expelled from the UN having threatned.... 05:20  |  Nadav 20/12/06   20.   Thank you Mr. Olmert 05:36  |  Simon 20/12/06   21.   Guy From NYC, of The "Seven Boroughs" (+Makkah +Madinah) ! 05:38  |  you shalt not lie ! 20/12/06   22.   Re 2 But who is counting 05:41  |  Alan 20/12/06   23.   #13 Response 05:42  |  ballistic 20/12/06   24.   Re 15 The real culprit 05:49  |  Alan 20/12/06   25.   Guy: Israel Only Planned A ConventionalMilitaryResponse To Saddam 05:56  |  Lavi 20/12/06   26.   Re 6 Oversimplification 05:59  |  Alan 20/12/06   27.   #16 - Guy`s selling Brooklyn bridge 06:03  |  SG 20/12/06   28.   #8 - spirits talk to Johnboy 06:31  |  SG 20/12/06   29.   #28 SG - Paranioa knows no limits among the zionists 08:17  |  Johnboy 20/12/06   30.   UN May Not Do Anything For Iran Again! 08:33  |  Yosemite Sam 20/12/06   31.   #2 Robert - so it`s a size issue? 08:42  |  justiceseeker 20/12/06   32.   This guy is so delusional he thinks he has influence in the UN. 09:16  |  Marwan مروان خوري 20/12/06   33.   Ahmadinejad cried when confronted with protesting students 10:04  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 20/12/06   34.   to jonhboy 29 - How we know a duck is a duck. 10:10  |  mb 20/12/06   35.   28: Just because you`re paranoid, JB 10:11  |  DAVid Teich 20/12/06   36.   Guy from NYC 10:22  |  S. 20/12/06   37.   Simple mathematics 10:32  |  Hannah 20/12/06   38.   To John from Canada n.6. 10:38  |  David Nigel Braham 20/12/06   39.   And UN probably will... 10:48  |  Paul Henzen 20/12/06   40.   The `lunacy` of verbal blame game 11:05  |  TonyL 20/12/06   41.   #6 WRONG AND WRONG AGAIN THE USA HAS USED NUKES 11:12  |  paul harris 20/12/06   42.   John from Canada 11:17  |  Jasmine Murphy 20/12/06   43.   Iran 11:21  |  edward 20/12/06   44.   Johnboy`s fairy tales 11:22  |  Jasmine Murphy 20/12/06   45.   if it follows the previouys 58 YEARS ITS AGIVEN 11:24  |  paul harris 20/12/06   46.   well put, Zarif 11:30  |  Pssd Off American 20/12/06   47.   Telling it like it is. 11:40  |  Sandra Cleaver 20/12/06   48.   Total logic by Nadav 11:53  |  Chris Linthwaite 20/12/06   49.   to 37 again - simple history 12:03  |  mb 20/12/06   50.   Simple statistics hannah :) 12:07  |  mb 20/12/06   51.   Israel`s nukes not dangerous. 12:08  |  Neutered Observer 20/12/06   52.   #28 SG 12:11  |  Chris Linthwaite 20/12/06   53.   Why do you give this? 12:11  |  From the Moon 20/12/06   54.   Simple science hanna- what your pals do? 12:12  |  mb 20/12/06   55.   to hanna - The dogs bark but the caravan moves on" 12:14  |  mb 20/12/06   56.   Sandra Cleaver #47 12:15  |  TonyL 20/12/06   57.   To Chris Linthwaite #48 12:16  |  Youhav 20/12/06   58.   #6 It was Iraq that attacked Iran 12:22  |  Jens 20/12/06   59.   Stripping Israel of WMD`s is not enough 12:24  |  Jens 20/12/06   60.   Chris Linthwaite, I ask that you please not misrepresent what I.. 12:30  |  Nadav 20/12/06   61.   #54 mb 12:37  |  Chris Linthwaite 20/12/06   62.   #57 Nothing liek a well thought out argument 12:47  |  Chris Linthwaite 20/12/06   63.   # 60 Nadav the champion of excuses...... 13:16  |  Swiss (Dino) 20/12/06   64.   mb #50 13:19  |  Guess who 20/12/06   65.   to 58 - to you jews dont belong to world. 13:21  |  mb 20/12/06   66.   Chris Linthwaite #61 13:25  |  Guess who 20/12/06   67.   Chris Linthwaite #62 13:31  |  TonyL 20/12/06   68.   Too 61 - Israel also helped france build their nuke. 13:37  |  mb 20/12/06   69.   62 - There is no Equivalence 13:45  |  Bruriah Sarah 20/12/06   70.   to 64 - I hope have more USA investiments 13:49  |  mb 20/12/06   71.   Iran wants to destroy Israel 13:53  |  Bruriah Sarah 20/12/06   72.