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Prime Minister Olmert whose slip of tongue revealed a decades old security secret.
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| By Associated Press December 20, 2006 |
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Iran demanded Tuesday that the U.N. Security Council condemn what it said was Israel's clandestine development and possession of nuclear weapons and "compel" it to abandon nuclear arms and place all its nuclear facilities under U.N. inspection.
If Israel refuses to comply, Iran said the council must take "resolute action" under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter, which authorizes a range of measures from diplomatic and economic sanctions to military action.
Iran insists its own nuclear program is purely peaceful to develop nuclear energy, but the United States and many European nations believe Tehran's real aim in enriching uranium is to produce nuclear weapons. The Security Council is currently debating a resolution that would impose sanctions on Iran for refusing to suspend its enrichment program.
Iran's U.N. Ambassador, Javad Zarif, said in identical letters to the council and the secretary-general that the council's actions would show whether it was acting under the U.N. Charter or as "a tool" for a few permanent members who have encouraged Israel "to persist in its lawless behavior with impunity."
The reference appeared aimed at the United States, Israel's closest ally, which would almost certainly veto any council resolution on Israel's nuclear program.
Zarif said Israel was the only obstacle to establishing a nuclear weapons-free zone in the Middle East.
"Peace and stability cannot be achieved in the Middle East while the massive Israeli nuclear arsenal continues to threaten the region and beyond," he said.
Zarif said Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's recent comments in a German television interview constituted not only a public admission of the country's nuclear weapons but a public boast of how dangerous they are.
Israel has a long-standing policy of ambiguity on nuclear weapons, refusing to confirm or deny whether it has them. But in the German TV interview broadcast Dec. 12, Olmert listed Israel among countries that possess nuclear weapons.
Olmert's comments -- which his office said were misinterpreted -- came days after Robert Gates, who took over Monday as U.S. defense secretary, said in testimony to a Senate committee that Israel was a member of the club of nuclear-armed nations.
The Israeli prime minister's remarks were in response to a question about Iran's threat to destroy Israel.
Olmert said Israel has never threatened to annihilate anyone and added: "Iran openly, explicitly and publicly threatens to wipe Israel off the map. Can you say that this is the same level, when you are aspiring to have nuclear weapons, as America, France, Israel, Russia?"
Israel's U.N. Mission had no immediate comment on Zarif's letters.
The Iranian ambassador insisted in the letters, obtained by the Associated Press, that Olmert's comments were a clear admission that Israel possessed nuclear weapons in violation of international law, the U.N. Charter and numerous Security Council and General Assembly resolutions.
"Nuclear weapons in the hands of a regime with an unparalleled record of noncompliance with Security Council resolutions and a long and dark catalogue of crimes and atrocities such as occupation, aggression, militarism, state-terrorism, and crimes against humanity, poses a uniquely grave threat to regional as well as international peace and security," Zarif claimed.
He called on the council to fulfill its responsibility under the U.N. Charter "to address such a clear and serious threat to international peace and security."
"The council should ... condemn Israeli regime's clandestine development and possession of nuclear weapons, compel it to abandon nuclear weapons, (and) urge it to accede" to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, Zarif said. It should also demand that all of Israel's nuclear facilities be subject to inspection by the International Atomic Energy Agency and be placed under its safeguards program.
"Should the Israeli regime fail to do so, the council must take resolute action under Chapter 7 of the Charter to ensure compliance," he said. |
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