UNITED NATIONS —
Iran’s president told the UN on Wednesday that his country was not
seeking an atomic weapon and demanded US guarantees it would abide by any
revived nuclear deal.
اضافة اعلان
“The Islamic
Republic of Iran is not seeking to build or obtain nuclear weapons and such
weapons have no place in our doctrine,” President Ebrahim Raisi told the UN
General Assembly.
Raisi, a hardline
cleric, addressed the world body just hours before US President
Joe Biden was
set to take the stage, amid a surge of tension over an Iran nuclear deal that
remains blocked despite months of negotiations, and mounting pressure over the
country’s human rights record.
“All of this is
taking place in an environment where countries themselves that seek to show us
unjustly as a threat keep pursuing nuclear weapons and development and
testing,” Raisi said, claiming there is a “double standard” when it comes to
discussion of Iran’s nuclear science capacity as well as women’s rights.
He denounced the
lack of pressure on Israel, an undeclared nuclear power, saying that Iran has
complied with international commitments.
“We all know that
it’s only for human and peaceful endeavors,” Raisi said of his country’s
nuclear program.
“But some
countries are keen on portraying this as a threat, in order to sweep under the
rug what they should rightly face themselves, which should be
denuclearization.”
The West has been
calling on Tehran to revive the 2015 nuclear accord — four years after Biden’s
White House predecessor
Donald Trump pulled out of the deal and reimposed major
sanctions on Iran.
Raisi voiced doubt
about the Biden administration’s sincerity.
“They keep
repeating the same stories of the past which puts a great deal of doubt on
their true commitment to return to the agreement,” he said.
“Can we truly
trust — without guarantees and assurances — that they will decide to live up to
that commitment?”
French President
Emmanuel Macron met with Raisi in New York Tuesday, saying afterward that “the
ball is in Iran’s court”.
Earlier Wednesday, British
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly told AFP that Tehran should “abandon their
nuclear weapons aspirations” and engage more actively with the international
community.
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