Background:
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Iran has failed to observe some voluntary confidence building protocols. Notice voluntary is bolded because it has a completely different meaning from mandatory. Considering the level of NPT violating harassment Iran has experienced, I'm not surprised Iran has chosen not to reveal some activities years in advance as per the voluntary protocols and instead choses to reveal their nuclear activities about a year in advance of carrying them out. Since Iran revealed its nuclear program, all their known nuclear facilities are closely monitored by the IAEA.
Demonizing anti-Iranian propaganda, frequently regurgitated by our news and political leaders fail to make the distinction between voluntary and mandatory parts of the NPT. In fact they deliberately twist the facts to create a misperception that Iran wants nuclear weapons and seeks to give them to terrorist groups.
As a signatory of the NPT, Iran has a right to peacefully nuclear technology, but not nuclear weapons. A majority of nations support Iran's development of peaceful nuclear technology without interference.
For example the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) has publicly stated they support Iran's peaceful nuclear program:
NAM issues statement in support of Iran nuclear case
Also the UN Security Council is not in agreement regarding Iran's nuclear program:
In response to the above hypocrisy, Iran is hosting a conference on nuclear disarmament and argues these points:
Iran's viewpoint as posted in the Tehran Times
These nations should face sanctions until they sign and become compliant with the mandatory parts of the NPT:
India
Israel
Pakistan
North Korea
List of states with nuclear weapons - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The other nuclear powers should be harassed until they start reducing and eliminating their nuclear arsenals. These NPT violating nations have no legitimacy in criticizing other nations regarding the NPT:
China
France
Russia
UK
USA
Any nation that researches and develops nuclear weapons or threaten non-nuclear nations with their nuclear weapons should be condemned and face serious diplomatic and economic consequences.
Canada as a country which could have developed nuclear weapons and chose not to, has credibility when it comes to criticizing other nations which violate the NPT.
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The fact is, Iran has never been proven to be in violation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). On the contrary, punitive measures against Iran for their peaceful nuclear program violate the NPT.The controversy over Iran's nuclear programs centers in particular on Iran's failure to declare sensitive enrichment and reprocessing activities to the IAEA.[6] Enrichment can be used to produce uranium for reactor fuel or (at higher enrichment levels) for weapons.[7] Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful,[8] and has enriched uranium to less than 5 percent, consistent with fuel for a civilian nuclear power plant.[9] Iran also claims that it was forced to resort to secrecy after US pressure caused several of its nuclear contracts with foreign governments to fall through.[citation needed]
After the IAEA Board of Governors reported Iran's noncompliance with its safeguards agreement to the UN Security Council, the Council demanded that Iran suspend its nuclear enrichment activities[10] while Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has argued that the sanctions are "illegal," imposed by “arrogant powers,” and that Iran has decided to pursue the monitoring of its self-described peaceful nuclear program through "its appropriate legal path,” the International Atomic Energy Agency.[11]...
Nuclear program of Iran - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Iran has failed to observe some voluntary confidence building protocols. Notice voluntary is bolded because it has a completely different meaning from mandatory. Considering the level of NPT violating harassment Iran has experienced, I'm not surprised Iran has chosen not to reveal some activities years in advance as per the voluntary protocols and instead choses to reveal their nuclear activities about a year in advance of carrying them out. Since Iran revealed its nuclear program, all their known nuclear facilities are closely monitored by the IAEA.
Demonizing anti-Iranian propaganda, frequently regurgitated by our news and political leaders fail to make the distinction between voluntary and mandatory parts of the NPT. In fact they deliberately twist the facts to create a misperception that Iran wants nuclear weapons and seeks to give them to terrorist groups.
Despite common misperceptions to the contrary, Iran has not violated any mandatory part of the NPT. They have never been proven to have a nuclear weapon program and insinuations that they plan to arm terrorists with nukes is just fear mongering of the same type which war criminals used to promote their illegal war against Iraq which has resulted in a million deaths so far.Obama On Iran And Sanctions
The 5 permanent members of the United Nations Security Council – Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States, along with Germany, are meeting in New York to discuss potential new sanctions on Iran.
..."All of whom believe that it is important for us to send a strong signal to Iran that their consistent violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions, as well as their obligations under the NPT [the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty] have consequences, and that they have a better path to take."
Mr. Obama spoke at the conclusion of the nuclear security summit held in Washington on April 12th and 13th which drew leaders from forty-seven countries intent on safeguarding fissile material and keeping nuclear weapons out of the hands of terrorists.
President Obama said that the international community will respond to Iran's continued defiance of its international obligations and emphasized that the opportunity for a more positive and better future will remain a choice for Iran's leaders:
"What sanctions do accomplish is hopefully to change the calculus of a country like Iran so that they see that there are more costs and fewer benefits to pursuing a nuclear weapons program...
As a signatory of the NPT, Iran has a right to peacefully nuclear technology, but not nuclear weapons. A majority of nations support Iran's development of peaceful nuclear technology without interference.
For example the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) has publicly stated they support Iran's peaceful nuclear program:
NAM issues statement in support of Iran nuclear case
Also the UN Security Council is not in agreement regarding Iran's nuclear program:
Hypocritically, all permanent members of the UN Security Council (the ones proposing sanctions against Iran) are in violation of the NPT. As per the mandatory terms of the treaty, nuclear weapon possessing states are required to reduce and eliminate their nuclear arsenals. Instead these nations have continued to research and modernize their nuclear arsenals.Brazil, Turkey promote diplomatic solution on Iran
(AFP) – 3 days ago
BRASILIA — Brazil's Foreign Minister Celso Amorim and his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglo reiterated Friday their nations' opposition to new sanctions against Iran, promoting renewed dialogue instead.
"We will continue to work together to arrive at a diplomatic solution on Iran and we hope that in the course of the coming week we can make some progress on this front," Davutoglo said during a press conference.
Brazil and Turkey, both non-permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, have proven resistant to a recent US push for new sanctions against Iran in response to its nuclear program...
AFP: Brazil, Turkey promote diplomatic solution on Iran
In response to the above hypocrisy, Iran is hosting a conference on nuclear disarmament and argues these points:
Iran's viewpoint as posted in the Tehran Times
Seldom in Canada do we hear the Iranian viewpoint. Personally I am against any nation possessing nuclear weapons. I support the right of all nations to peaceful nuclear technology including Iran. I am in favor of imposing sanctions against all nations which have not signed the NPT and developed nuclear weapons:Iran is hosting an international conference on nuclear disarmament to show the world that despite claims by a small number of countries that Iran is concealing a weapons program under the cover of its civilian nuclear program, Tehran not only has no intention to produce nuclear weapons but is also making serious efforts for the total destruction of all nuclear weapons.
As a victim of chemical weapons during Saddam Hussein’s war against the country in the 1980s, Iran is and must be a strong opponent of weapons of mass destruction, especially nuclear weapons, which threaten the entire human race.
As a person who carries a knife or gun is dangerous, a country which possesses weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons, is also dangerous.
The claim by nuclear-armed countries that their nuclear arsenals are kept in safe places is not a justification for not dismantling these weapons. The argument by officials of certain nuclear weapons states that they are ruled by stable democratic systems is also not an acceptable excuse because there is no guarantee that something will not go terribly wrong.
In modern times, civilized nations detest every type of weapon of mass destruction, and particularly nuclear weapons. And the Iranians, with their ancient civilization, are no exception.
Moreover, maraja taqlid (Shia clerics who are regarded as sources of emulation) and other ulema regard the production, stockpiling, and use of WMDs as totally haram (forbidden in Islam) and believe such weapons are against the will of God.
According to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty -- a legally binding treaty which came into force on March 5, 1970 -- nuclear weapons states must eventually dismantle all of their nuclear weapons. However, 40 years since the adoption of the treaty, this idealistic call is still being ignored.
Article VI of the NPT states: “Each of the Parties to the Treaty undertakes to pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament, and on a treaty on general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control.”
However, the United States and the Soviet Union, as original signatories of the treaty, regrettably continued to produce and stockpile hundreds of nuclear weapons during the Cold War era.
Even now that the U.S. and Russia have pledged to limit their nuclear stockpiles, the U.S. is continuing to modernize its nuclear arsenal and is producing mini-nuclear weapons.
As a peaceful nation, Iran first proposed the idea of making the Middle East a nuclear weapons-free zone in 1974. At the UN General Assembly meetings in 2005, 2007, and 2009, Iran again put forward a resolution calling for efforts to realize the goals set for global nuclear disarmament at the 1995 and 2000 NPT review conferences in New York.
In the resolution, Iran called on nuclear weapons states to act transparently, to largely reduce their reliance on their nuclear arsenals in their security policies, and to effectively pursue total nuclear disarmament.
Nuclear weapons states still vaguely threaten non-nuclear weapons states with nuclear attack. For example, former British defense secretary Geoff Hoon explicitly invoked the possibility of nuclear attack in response to a non-conventional attack by what he called ""rogue states"".
Also, in the biggest shift in French nuclear doctrine for 40 years, in January 2006 former French president Jacques Chirac threatened a nuclear strike against any state which sponsored a “terrorist assault” on France. He also said France should regard its allies and its sources of strategic supplies -- in other words oil -- as covered by its nuclear umbrella.
In the new Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) issued by the Pentagon on April 8, the U.S. threatened to use nuclear weapons against Iran, even though it is not a nuclear weapons state, a threat in clear violation of the NPT.
Ant then there is the threat of nuclear accidents. For example, Britain’s nuclear submarine HMS Vanguard and France’s Le Triomphant collided deep below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean in February 2009. The collision of the two submarines, both with nuclear weapons onboard, could have unleashed vast amounts of radiation and scattered scores of nuclear warheads across the seabed.
As one of its three main principles, the NPT gives the signatories the right to peacefully use nuclear technology.
Article IV of the NPT clearly states: “Nothing in this Treaty shall be interpreted as affecting the inalienable right of all the Parties to the Treaty to develop research, production and use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes without discrimination…”
However, not only has the NPT’s primary goal of achieving nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation not been realized, NPT signatories are also coming under illegal pressure not to use nuclear technology for peaceful civilian purposes.
The Tehran conference, which gathers representatives from international organizations, nuclear experts, anti-nuclear arms activists, and officials from different countries, including representatives from nuclear armed countries, can help set the goal for a world without nuclear arms.
The Nuclear Energy for All, Nuclear Weapons for No One conference provides an opportunity to allay the international community’s concerns about nuclear weapons by drawing up plans to strengthen the pillars of the NPT in terms of non-proliferation, disarmament, and civilian use of nuclear technology.
The conference can work out a plan to highlight international commitments toward nuclear disarmament and practical approaches to nuclear disarmament, set a date for nuclear disarmament -- since the NPT has a major loophole in that it has set no date for the purpose -- and define a transparent and efficient mechanism to verify claims by nuclear states that they are dismantling part of their nuclear arsenals.
Moreover, the participants should insist on NPT signatories’ inalienable right to nuclear technology without discrimination and facilitate the transfer of nuclear technology and materials for the development of civilian nuclear energy programs in conformity with the NPT members’ obligations toward nuclear safeguards.
tehran times : The Tehran conference, a dream of a nuclear weapons-free world
These nations should face sanctions until they sign and become compliant with the mandatory parts of the NPT:
India
Israel
Pakistan
North Korea
List of states with nuclear weapons - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The other nuclear powers should be harassed until they start reducing and eliminating their nuclear arsenals. These NPT violating nations have no legitimacy in criticizing other nations regarding the NPT:
China
France
Russia
UK
USA
Any nation that researches and develops nuclear weapons or threaten non-nuclear nations with their nuclear weapons should be condemned and face serious diplomatic and economic consequences.
Canada as a country which could have developed nuclear weapons and chose not to, has credibility when it comes to criticizing other nations which violate the NPT.
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