Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Israel Is The 'Real Nuclear Danger' In Mideast

By Shmuel Rosner,
Haaretz Correspondent, and Agencies
Last update - 22:06 13/03/2007
Haaretz

Israel and U.S. delegations walked out of the United Nations' disarmament forum on Tuesday after Iran said Israel was the "real source of nuclear danger in the Middle East" and had a "dark record of crimes."

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told a Conference on Disarmament that Israel's nuclear weapons posed a

"uniquely grave threat to regional and international peace and security" requiring action by the international community.

He also accused Israel of being a

"Zionist regime with a long and dark record of crimes and atrocities" including occupation, "state-terrorism" and crimes against humanity.

"It is surprising that while no practical step is taken to contain [the] real source of nuclear danger in the Middle East, my country is under tremendous pressure to renounce its inalienable right for peaceful use of nuclear energy",

Mottaki told the conference, organized by the 65 members of the world's main forum for arms control negotiations.

...Mottaki reasserted that Iran had a right to a civilian atomic program but was ready to talk.

"We do believe that if we sit around the table, the potential is there for arriving at a comprehensive and agreeable solution," he told a news conference.

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