Fri, Apr 28, 2006 at 7:47:21 am
In another act of outrageous UN hypocrisy, Iran has been elected as a vice-chair to the United Nations Disarmament Commission, the organization that is supposed to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons. (We originally reported this on April 14.)
Today, even as they continued to mock and defy the IAEA, Iran denounced the election of Israel to that same commission: Iran Denounces Israel Election to UN Panel.
UNITED NATIONS - Iran’s U.N. ambassador on Thursday denounced Israel’s election as a vice-chair of the U.N. Disarmament Commission, calling the Jewish state a threat to peace in the Middle East.
Ambassador Javad Zarif accused Israel of “violating every single Security Council resolution that has been adopted about the Middle East.”
He also lashed out at Israeli criticism of Iran’s own election as a vice-chair of the commission, noting the Jewish state has refused to sign the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty but “has the audacity to talk about another country having a seat.”
“That’s absolutely ridiculous,” he told a group of reporters at a lunch he hosted. “It’s pushing the issue to the border of absurdity.”
Zarif, who chaired the U.N. Disarmament Commission in 2000, noted that Iran is a party to the NPT, considered the cornerstone of nuclear disarmament efforts.
Israel and Iran were among eight vice-chairs elected at a U.N. Disarmament Commission meeting that began April 10 and ends Friday. The commission’s mission includes preventing the spread of nuclear weapons and ensuring that atomic energy is used only for peaceful purposes.