West keeps mum on Israeli nukes but fumes at Iranian defenses

Russia’s mission to the United Nations said the US continually tries to demonize Iranian missile activities despite lack of any damning evidence against the Islamic Republic’s defensive activities, and while Washington itself is in default of several international non-proliferation agreements.

 Dmitry Polyanskiy also reminded how America left the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty with Moscow earlier this year, and was undermining efforts aimed at creating a West Asia region free of nuclear arms.
The following is a news report concerning this issue written by staff writers of Iran’s English language paper ‘Iran Daily’ under the heading: “West keeps mum on Israeli nukes but fumes at Iranian defenses.”

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Friday Dec. 06, took a swipe at the West for turning a blind eye to Zionist regime’s nuclear stockpile while criticizing Iranian missile defenses.

In a tweet, Zarif said Britain, France, Germany and the United States “never complain about” Israel’s nuclear missiles but are outraged at Iran over its “conventional and defensive” weapons.

Zarif wrote on Twitter “E3 & US never complain about the only nuclear arsenal in West Asia—armed with missiles actually designed to be capable of carrying nukes—but has fits of apoplexy over our conventional & defensive ones.”
The rebuke came after Zionist regime of Israel conducted a missile test recently, which Zarif described as a launch that “tested a nuke-missile, aimed at Iran”. Israel’s military remained conspicuously tight-lipped about the shadowy test of “the rocket propulsion system”.

Zarif’s comments came a day after the three European countries accused Iran of developing missiles capable of delivering nuclear warheads. UN ambassadors for Britain, France and Germany said in a letter to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres that “Iran’s developments of nuclear-capable ballistic missiles” go against a UN Security Council resolution, urging Tehran not to undertake any activity related to such missiles.”

They claimed Iran’s actions were “inconsistent” with the missile provision in the Security Council resolution endorsing a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran. Zarif on Twitter also dismissed the letter as “a desperate falsehood”, saying the Europeans were covering up their own “miserable incompetence” at abiding by the nuclear deal and were “bowing to US bullying”.

It was an apparent reference to the Europeans’ inability to get around US sanctions, reimposed by US President Donald Trump, which have banned Iran from selling its crude oil overseas.

Zarif added: “If E3 want a modicum of global credibility, they can begin by exerting sovereignty rather than bowing to US bullying.” Iran has always denied allegations of planning to develop nuclear missiles and says its nuclear program is only for peaceful energy production and medical purposes.

The landmark 2015 nuclear deal gave Iran relief from economic sanctions in return for some limitations on its nuclear program. But it has been at risk of falling apart since Trump unilaterally withdrew from it in May last year and reimposed sanctions on Iran.

Meanwhile, Russia’s mission to the United Nations said the US continually tries to demonize Iranian missile activities despite lack of any damning evidence against the Islamic Republic’s defensive activities, and while Washington itself is in default of several international non-proliferation agreements.
Dmitry Polyanskiy, Moscow’s Chargé d’affaires to the world body, addressed the remarks to the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in a letter dated November 26 that was made available on Friday Dec. 06.
He reminded that Iran was a signatory to many multilateral non-proliferation mechanisms, including the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the 2015 nuclear deal – officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). 

Washington has, on numerous occasions, accused Tehran of developing nuclear-capable missiles, despite Tehran’s outright rejection of nuclear weapons of all type, and its observance of the JCPOA, which prohibits it from pursuing such armaments.

The Russian official also highlighted “the complete lack of evidence that Iran is developing or producing a nuclear weapon or means of its delivery or is deploying any infrastructure for the storage or servicing of nuclear weapons.” He further endorsed the Islamic Republic’s continued commitment to the nuclear deal as verified by Tehran’s “refraining from activities related to ballistic missiles that are designed to be capable of carrying nuclear weapons.”

Polyanskiy asserted: “Nor has the UN Security Council, which has endorsed the JCPOA in the form of Resolution 2231, received any “viable information to the contrary.” However, he stated that the US would keep trying to implicate Iran in nuclear arms-related activities by, among other means, citing the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR).

The envoy added this is while the MTCR is an informal political understanding between 35 states on export control issues, and could not be deployed as a universal legally binding instrument or used in the context of Resolution 2231 to try and incriminate Iran’s missile activities.

Polyanskiy added Washington was on the offensive against Iran, while itself left the JCPOA last year “in violation of Article 25 of the United Nations Charter,” and is now preventing other nations from implementing it. After leaving the deal, the White House revived its sanctions against Tehran, and also started pushing other JCPOA members into abiding by the American embargoes.

The Russian envoy also reminded how America left the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty with Moscow earlier this year, and was undermining efforts aimed at creating a West Asia region free of nuclear arms. He was referring to the frequent US use of its veto power at the UN in favor of Zionist entity of Israel, which is the sole nuclear armed regime in the region and has refused to join the NPT.

ME