Iran slams West double standards on nuclear disarmament

“Unfortunately, the West’s double-standard approach to disarmament has not helped” efforts to promote nuclear non-proliferation, said Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Shamkhani during a Wednesday meeting with Deputy UN Secretary General Jan Eliasson in Tehran.

The senior Iranian official also called on the United Nations to seriously pursue the creation of a nuclear weapon-free zone in the Middle East.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Shamkhani reaffirmed the Islamic Republic’s determination to continue its talks with the P5+1 group – Russia, China, France, Britain, the US and Germany – on Tehran’s nuclear energy program.

He also highlighted numerous reports by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirming the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear activities as well as Tehran’s commitment to the interim nuclear deal it inked with the six states last year.

The Islamic Republic will continue its cooperation with the IAEA within the framework of its rights as well as the existing regulations, Shamkhani added.

Iran and the six major world powers are in talks to work out a final deal aimed at ending the longstanding dispute over the Islamic Republic’s civilian nuclear work as a November 24 deadline approaches.

Last November, the two sides clinched an interim nuclear accord, which took effect on January 20 and expired six months later. However, they agreed to extend their talks until November 24 as they remained divided on a number of key issues.