Iran Press/America: Majid Takht-Ravanchi made the remarks in a statement read at an informal UNSC meeting on Friday.
The full text of his statement reads:
Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs) are indeed the most immoral and inhumane weapons ever developed by mankind, and their development, production, stockpiling, and use have rightly been prohibited.
The only absolute guarantee against the use of these inhumane weapons is, in fact, their total elimination and to ensure that they will never be developed.
This noble objective clearly proves the inherent value of non-proliferation and disarmament regimes and their essential role in maintaining international peace and security.
Nevertheless, the authority of such regimes and the credibility of relevant international institutions have seriously been challenged and undermined in the past decades, ironically in most cases, not by those seeking to develop WMDs but by those who have abused non-proliferation regimes to advance their own interests.
The Security Council was dead silent when chemical weapons provided by the West were used by Saddam in his aggression against Iran, killing thousands of Iranian and Iraqi citizens.
It was the case when Iraq was invaded by Western countries based on completely false WMD-related claims. The Council is again silent when Syria has been under extreme pressure in recent years because certain powers are abusing the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to advance their illegitimate interests in that country.
Likewise, Iran was placed under unprecedented UN sanctions until 2016 only because of an unnecessary crisis manufactured by certain Western powers under the so-called proliferation concerns over our peaceful nuclear program.
However, the Israeli regime, which has developed all types of WMDs and has refused to join international treaties banning these deadly weapons, is not held accountable by the Security Council because it is shielded by the US.
The authority of non-proliferation regimes and the credibility of related organizations cannot be preserved and upheld automatically and in isolation while disregarding these bitter realities.
The only absolute guarantee to that end is the strict application of non-proliferation norms to all, at all times and under all circumstances, and above all, without exploitation of the norms or politicization of or discrimination in their application, as well as the impartiality and professional work of the relevant multilateral machineries.
We must therefore resist the politicization and abuse of non-proliferation norms and related institutions; renounce flawed methodologies, fake and unreliable evidence or disregarding the chain of custody in relevant investigations; and reject biased and politicized conclusions and reporting by relevant mechanisms.
The draft decision on Syria submitted to the 25th Conference of the States Parties to the CWC contains all such elements, thus should be rejected.
As a major victim in the contemporary history of the most systematic use of chemical weapons, Iran once again condemns in the strongest possible terms the use of chemical weapons by anyone, anywhere, and under any circumstances.
We also strongly reject all efforts undermining the CWC’s authority and the OPCW’s credibility and call for the balanced, full, and non-discriminatory implementation of the CWC and upholding the authority of the OPCW.
101/216
Read more:
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