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Statement by H.E. Mr. Ali Bahraini before the Conference on Disarmament - Geneva, 26 January 2023
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Statement
By
H.E. Mr. Ali Bahraini
Ambassador and Permanent Representative
of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations Office in Geneva
Before
The Conference on Disarmament
Geneva, 26 January 2023
بسم الله الرحمن الرحیم
Thank you Mr. President.
At the outset allow me to congratulate you, ambassador Ahmad Ihab Gamaleldin and the Arab Republic of Egypt for assuming the presidency of the Conference on Disarmament. Rest assured of my delegation’s full support and cooperation in discharging your mandate in leading the Conference out of the current impasse.
I would also welcome new distinguished ambassadors who recently joined us as representatives of their respective countries in the Conference on Disarmament.
It is an honor to speak on behalf of the Islamic Republic of Iran before this august body.
Mr. President, Distinguished Colleagues, Madam Secretary General,
As a full-fledged qualitative and quantitative nuclear arms race is under way, the role, nature and mandate of the CD is more relevant than ever. The international disarmament machineries are in serious jeopardy, multilateralism and diplomacy are under unprecedented attacks, the risk of nuclear use is raising, which leads to the fact that the overall international security environment is deteriorating.
At the same time the rise in conventional military expenditures and arms sale in many parts of the world is alarming and the already volatile region of West Asia is flooded with more sophisticated weapons from the western countries which put the Middle East in the top list of destination for weapons and fueling the ongoing conflicts across the region.
The CD as the sole multilateral negotiating forum has the mandate of negotiating legally binding instruments in the field of disarmament in accordance with the final document of the SSOD-I. The Conference should adopt a programme of work that would bring it back into the working mode. It is important to preserve the negotiating mandate of this unique body and avoid the attempts to turn it into a deliberative mechanism.
The CD’s decades-long stalemate, which has prevented it from fulfilling its mandate, could be reversed if all members, particularly the Nuclear Weapons States, demonstrate political will and live-up to their commitments on the nuclear disarmament. It is important to break the deadlock, which must not be achieved at the expense of the mandate of the Conference.
Mr. President,
The continued existence of nuclear weapons further aggravates tensions in the international security environment and represents a grave threat to humanity. We stress the unequivocal undertaking of the Nuclear-Weapon States to accomplish the total elimination of their nuclear arsenals leading to nuclear disarmament. We reject the notion that these obligations are conditional, as suggested in the statement of the Nuclear-Weapon States. The deteriorating global security environment reinforces the need and the urgency of implementation of those obligations with a specific timetable.
Mr. President,
Non-Nuclear Weapon States decided to join the NPT with the understanding that they would not be the target of use or threat to use of nuclear weapons. Therefore, in the resolution for the adoption of the NPT, the General Assembly requested the negotiation body to consider urgently the proposal that the Nuclear-Weapon States should give an assurance that they would not use, or threaten to use, nuclear weapons against Non-Nuclear-Weapon States without nuclear weapons on their territories.
The purpose of the NPT is to preserve the security of all, not the nuclear weapons monopoly of a few. In this regard, Iran as a victim of Weapons of Mass Destruction that still suffers the wounds of use of Chemical Weapons by Saddam's regime with the assistance of some Western countries in particular Germany during the 1980s, reiterates that the only guarantee against the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons is their total, irreversible and verifiable elimination in accordance with article VI of the NPT. Pending that, the Non-Nuclear Weapon States are entitled and have the right to enjoy unconditional, universal, irreversible and legally binding assurances against the use or threat of use of such weapon and at the same time, Nuclear Weapon States do have the obligation to provide credible and effective legally binding security assurances to the Non-Nuclear-Weapon States. The CD should pursue the conclusion of a universal, unconditional and legally binding instrument on security assurances to Non-Nuclear Weapon States as a matter of priority.
Mr. President,
The 1995 Resolution on the Middle East WMDFZ was one of the main elements of the package, which led to the indefinite extension of the NPT at the 1995 NPT Review and Extension Conference.
The international efforts to establish a nuclear weapon free zone in the Middle East, that was first initiated by Iran in early 1970s, has been effectively blocked by the US and its allies as part of their support toward the real source of proliferation in the region, i.e., the Israeli regime that keeps accumulating all kinds of WMD without being a party to any international legally binding disarmament instruments and without being subject to any accountability, safeguards or verification mechanism.
Mr. President,
The failure of the 10th NPT RevCon, should be a wakeup call for urgent actions to uphold and implement the disarmament obligations under article VI of the NPT and undertakings during the 1995, 2000 and 2010 NPT RevCons in a time-bound fashion.
Mr. President,
It is really disappointing that, in pursuing their political agenda and in politicizing this august body, the EU representative and the German ambassador to the CD in their statements on 24 January tried to launch disinformation campaign and made allegations against Iran.
I’m compelled to put on record my country’s positions regarding some issues, in particular the war in Ukraine.
From the beginning of Ukraine war, Iran's position has been clear and consistent which has been pronounced repeatedly. Iran has always emphasized that all UN Members must fully respect the purposes and principles enshrined in the United Nations Charter as well as applicable international law, including peaceful settlement of conflicts, sovereignty, independence, unity, and territorial integrity.
Iran supports any efforts to find a peaceful solution to this conflict. We categorically reject unsubstantiated and baseless claims that Iran has transferred unmanned aerial vehicles for use in the conflict in Ukraine.
Just recently our minister of foreign affairs, clearly reiterated our position and I quote: “We oppose the war and displacement of people in Ukraine. On the other hand, we recognize the sovereignty and territorial integrity of countries under international law and for this reason, we have not recognized the separation of Crimea from Ukraine, we have not recognized the separation of Luhansk and Donetsk from Ukraine because we insist on our consistent principle in foreign policy. When we say war is not the solution in Ukraine, we mean it and we believe it as a fundamental policy and we rely on that”.
Mr. President,
The EU and German representative tried to give a self-serving narrative of the Security Council Resolution 2231 in order to falsely establish a link between their baseless allegations against Iran with Resolution 2231. The text and spirit of resolution 2231 have nothing to do with Iran’s defensive missile programme, as our missiles are not designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons because we don’t need such missiles and because we don’t have nuclear weapons.
Mr. President,
The EU representative’s remarks on JCPOA were disappointing, to say the least. The JCPOA current situation is the result of the U.S. unwarranted unilateral withdrawal in May 2018 and the EU/E3 failure and mishaps to uphold their obligations.
Those who contributed to this situation should avoid shouldering away their responsibility by cultivating self-serving narratives about the JCPOA’s current situation.
Mr. President,
I take this opportunity to emphasize on the role and the mandate of the CD as the sole multilateral disarmament negotiating forum in accordance with the final document of the SSOD-I. It is regrettable that this body continues to fail in overcoming its prolonged deadlock due to the lack of political will particularly on the part of nuclear weapons States. We look forward to working with you Mr. President and with other delegations in crafting a comprehensive and balanced programme of work in 2023 Session based on its agenda especially on its four core mandates, namely: Nuclear disarmament, Fissile material, Prevention of an arms race in outer space (PAROS), and Negative security assurances (NSAs).
I thank you Mr. President.