SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Iranian Foreign Minister: Time for US, Other Nuclear Powers to Disarm
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif calls on US, Israel, and other atomic weapons nations to begin 'new era' of non-proliferation
Jul 31, 2015
In the wake of the historic agreement between Iran and world powers, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Friday called on known nuclear weapons states, including the United States and Israel, to walk the walk and begin disarming their own atomic arsenals.
Writing in the Guardian, Zarif declared: "I sincerely believe that the nuclear agreement between my country--a non-nuclear-weapon state--and the P5+1 (which control almost all nuclear warheads on Earth) is symbolically significant enough to kickstart this paradigm shift and mark the beginning of a new era for the non-proliferation regime."
"One of the many ironies of history is that non-nuclear-weapon states, like Iran, have actually done far more for the cause of non-proliferation in practice than nuclear-weapon states have done on paper," Zarif noted.
There is no public evidence that Iran has a nuclear weapons program, and assessments by multiple U.S. government agencies have concluded the country has no plans to develop one.
"Meanwhile, states actually possessing these destructive weapons have hardly even 'talked the talk,' while completely brushing off their disarmament obligations under the non-proliferation treaty (NPT) and customary international law," Zarif declared, referring to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
"That is to say nothing of countries outside the NPT, or Israel, with an undeclared nuclear arsenal and a declared disdain towards non-proliferation, notwithstanding its absurd and alarmist campaign against the Iranian nuclear deal," Zarif added.
All of the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council--the U.S., Russia, France, the U.K., and China--are known to possess nuclear weapons. Israel, India, Pakistan, and North Korea also posses nuclear arsenals but have not signed onto the NPT treaty.
However, in the U.S., opponents of the Iran deal, and even some supporters, have stoked fear about the alleged threat that Iran poses to the world.
"One step in the right direction," Zarif urged, "would be to start negotiations for a weapons elimination treaty, backed by a robust monitoring and compliance-verification mechanism."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Sarah Lazare
Sarah Lazare is the editor of Workday Magazine and a contributing editor for In These Times. She is a former Staff Writer at Common Dreams. She comes from a background in independent journalism for publications including The Intercept, The Nation, and Tom Dispatch.
In the wake of the historic agreement between Iran and world powers, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Friday called on known nuclear weapons states, including the United States and Israel, to walk the walk and begin disarming their own atomic arsenals.
Writing in the Guardian, Zarif declared: "I sincerely believe that the nuclear agreement between my country--a non-nuclear-weapon state--and the P5+1 (which control almost all nuclear warheads on Earth) is symbolically significant enough to kickstart this paradigm shift and mark the beginning of a new era for the non-proliferation regime."
"One of the many ironies of history is that non-nuclear-weapon states, like Iran, have actually done far more for the cause of non-proliferation in practice than nuclear-weapon states have done on paper," Zarif noted.
There is no public evidence that Iran has a nuclear weapons program, and assessments by multiple U.S. government agencies have concluded the country has no plans to develop one.
"Meanwhile, states actually possessing these destructive weapons have hardly even 'talked the talk,' while completely brushing off their disarmament obligations under the non-proliferation treaty (NPT) and customary international law," Zarif declared, referring to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
"That is to say nothing of countries outside the NPT, or Israel, with an undeclared nuclear arsenal and a declared disdain towards non-proliferation, notwithstanding its absurd and alarmist campaign against the Iranian nuclear deal," Zarif added.
All of the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council--the U.S., Russia, France, the U.K., and China--are known to possess nuclear weapons. Israel, India, Pakistan, and North Korea also posses nuclear arsenals but have not signed onto the NPT treaty.
However, in the U.S., opponents of the Iran deal, and even some supporters, have stoked fear about the alleged threat that Iran poses to the world.
"One step in the right direction," Zarif urged, "would be to start negotiations for a weapons elimination treaty, backed by a robust monitoring and compliance-verification mechanism."
Sarah Lazare
Sarah Lazare is the editor of Workday Magazine and a contributing editor for In These Times. She is a former Staff Writer at Common Dreams. She comes from a background in independent journalism for publications including The Intercept, The Nation, and Tom Dispatch.
In the wake of the historic agreement between Iran and world powers, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Friday called on known nuclear weapons states, including the United States and Israel, to walk the walk and begin disarming their own atomic arsenals.
Writing in the Guardian, Zarif declared: "I sincerely believe that the nuclear agreement between my country--a non-nuclear-weapon state--and the P5+1 (which control almost all nuclear warheads on Earth) is symbolically significant enough to kickstart this paradigm shift and mark the beginning of a new era for the non-proliferation regime."
"One of the many ironies of history is that non-nuclear-weapon states, like Iran, have actually done far more for the cause of non-proliferation in practice than nuclear-weapon states have done on paper," Zarif noted.
There is no public evidence that Iran has a nuclear weapons program, and assessments by multiple U.S. government agencies have concluded the country has no plans to develop one.
"Meanwhile, states actually possessing these destructive weapons have hardly even 'talked the talk,' while completely brushing off their disarmament obligations under the non-proliferation treaty (NPT) and customary international law," Zarif declared, referring to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
"That is to say nothing of countries outside the NPT, or Israel, with an undeclared nuclear arsenal and a declared disdain towards non-proliferation, notwithstanding its absurd and alarmist campaign against the Iranian nuclear deal," Zarif added.
All of the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council--the U.S., Russia, France, the U.K., and China--are known to possess nuclear weapons. Israel, India, Pakistan, and North Korea also posses nuclear arsenals but have not signed onto the NPT treaty.
However, in the U.S., opponents of the Iran deal, and even some supporters, have stoked fear about the alleged threat that Iran poses to the world.
"One step in the right direction," Zarif urged, "would be to start negotiations for a weapons elimination treaty, backed by a robust monitoring and compliance-verification mechanism."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.