DOHA (Dispatches) -- Iran has highlighted the West’s double standards regarding nuclear weapons, saying it is “unacceptable” that Western powers raise concerns about Tehran’s peaceful nuclear energy program while they overlook Israel’s extensive nuclear arsenal.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi made the remarks in an address to the Fourth Round of Iranian-Arab Dialogues conference here on Saturday.
The top diplomat reminded that the Islamic Republic’s nuclear energy activities ae a peaceful and legitimate pursuit in contrast to the nuclear weapons possessed by the Israeli regime.
Iran, he said, does not seek nuclear weapons and that weapons of mass destruction have no place in the country’s security doctrine.
The foreign minister said Iran is one of the initiators of a nuclear-weapon-free zone concept in Asia, calling on Western countries to abandon their double standards regarding nuclear proliferation.
“Iran is committed to the international non-proliferation regime,” Araghchi said. 
For decades, the United States, its European allies, and Washington’s allied parties elsewhere across the globe have been using allegations of Iran’s pursuing non-conventional arms to either enact or agitate anti-Iranian policies, including sanctions, and anti-Iranian discourse.
This is while Iran’s leadership has categorically ruled out such endeavor in line with moral and religious imperatives.
The Islamic Republic’s refusal to either pursue, develop or stockpiles such weaponry has also been unexceptionally proven during the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)’s inspections, making the country the most-verified member of the United Nations nuclear watchdog.
Pointing to the Israeli regime’s nuclear weapons program and arsenal and instances of its deadly adventurism and expansionism across the West Asia region, the official said, “The existence of the Zionist regime remains the single greatest threat to peace in the region.”
He condemned the United States for supporting the regime unwaveringly and exponentially, calling Washington an accomplice in the regime’s atrocities, including its acts of violence and injustice targeting Palestinians.
The foreign minister described the regime’s ongoing genocidal and other aggressive measures as a direct attempt to erase the Palestinian nation.
Such a prospect, he said, would amount to complete colonial erasure of the Palestinian nation through the most horrific forms of violence and forced displacement.
He said the so-called “two-state solution” is a myth used to delay the realization of Palestinian rights for decades, adding the Zionist regime itself has ruled out even that prospect.
As the fourth round of indirect talks between Iran and the United States was set to begin the following day, Araghchi said, “We will continue our discussions with the United States — and concurrently with Europe, Russia, and China — in good faith.”
However, he made it clear that if the goal of these discussions was to ensure that Iran was not pursuing nuclear weapons, that objective had already been achieved.
But if the aim was to deny Iran its legitimate nuclear rights and impose unrealistic demands, the Islamic Republic would not yield to it, he added. 
“The Islamic Republic of Iran will never, under any circumstances, surrender any of the legitimate rights of the proud Iranian nation,” Araghchi stressed. 
Araghchi also stressed the importance of regional convergence as the path forward for Western Asian nations.
He called for deeper trust-building and mutual understanding, advocating for cooperative initiatives in areas like cultural exchange, trade, and tourism.
According to Araghchi, prosperity in the region depends not on the rise of dominant nations, but on the success of a strong region as a whole.