By: Kayhan Int'l Staff Writer

The Iranian ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has described the Israeli regime’s nuclear weapons program as a source of concern among Middle East states, and a serious and continued threat to regional and international peace and security.
Addressing the 60th Annual Regular Session of the IAEA General Conference in the Austrian capital city of Vienna on Thursday evening, Reza Najafi stated that Israel’s policy of nuclear ambiguity regarding its nuclear weapons program poses serious threats to international peace and security, calling for the IAEA inspection of the regime's secret nuclear sites.
The Zionist regime, which has refused to sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), or allow inspections of its military nuclear facilities, keeps an estimated stockpile of some 200-400 nuclear warheads.
According to former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell's emails leaked earlier this month, Israel has 200 nuclear weapons "targeted on Tehran.” This is not surprising. After all, Israel’s nuclear weapons program is not for peace.
This is while the United Nations General Assembly has already passed a resolution that urges Israel to come clean on its nuclear weapons program. The UN has also criticised the usurper regime for failing to join the NPT, to renounce its arsenal of nuclear weapons, and to place its nuclear facilities under international oversight.
The resolution must be understood as a strong signal that patience among the regional states and the international community is wearing thin with regard to Israel’s growing arsenal of nuclear weapons. It is also a strong signal from the non-nuclear-armed states that they are losing confidence that the NPT will ever become fit for purpose in disarmament terms.
The NPT, which has been ratified by 189 nations, including Iran, is an international accord aimed at preventing the spread of nuclear weapons in a move toward eventual disarmament. Israel refuses to sign the treaty for obvious reasons:
The United States (which voted against the UN resolution) wants to dominate and control the Middle East and its vast energy resources. It uses shipments and technology transfer in the name of security to provide Israel with arms against the regional states. This then provides Israel's support towards U.S. policy in the Middle East. That explains why amid all the focus on Iran over its civilian nuclear energy program, there is no talk in Washington about Israel’s nuclear warheads.
Quite the opposite, President Barack Obama has even reaffirmed a 4-decade-old "secret understanding” that has allowed Israel to keep its nukes without opening it to international inspections. Under the policy, the U.S. has not pressured Israel to disclose its nuclear weapons or to sign the NPT, which could require the regime to give up its estimated several hundred nuclear bombs.
As is, the "secret understanding” undermines the U.S. government’s goal of a world without nuclear weapons. What this means is that it calls into question virtually every aspect of America’s non-proliferation agenda.
As long as this double standard, this nuclear hypocrisy exists, any calls and criticism at the IAEA, much less resolutions at the UN, will fail to pave the way for a WMD free zone in the Middle East.