Tehran, Aug 18, IRNA – A US-based Iranian specialist has said if the countries in the Middle East accept the same conditions that Iran agreed under the nuclear deal, the region would turn into a nuclear weapon free zone.
Iran and major world powers—US, Russia, China, UK, France and Germany—signed the deal, known officially as the Joint Comprehenive Plan of Action (JCPOA), in 2015, under which Tehran accepted to curb its nuclear program in exchange for some economic sanctions relief.
Iran has always emphasized its nuclear program aims peaceful purposes.
'If the countries in the Middle East are ready to accept the same limits and transparency measures Iran has accepted within the nuclear deal, then we would have definitely nuclear defense free zone in the Middle East,' said Hossein Mousavian, Iran's former nuclear negotiator in a recent interview with the American Radio Who, What, Why.
Israel, which has neither confirmed nor denied it has nuclear arsenal, is believed to possess between 80 to 300 nuclear warheads.
'Why should we not, the US should not pressure Israel to accept the same deal in order to bring the willing of international community for zero nuclear bombs in whole Middle East? Why should all pressures and sanctions and accusations be on Iran, which is a member of NPT, does not have nuclear bombs, and has signed to the most comprehensive deal of nonproliferation history?'
Describing the deal as 'the most comprehensive agreement of the nonproliferation history', the Middle East Security and Nuclear Policy Specialist at Woodrow Wilson Center at Princeton said, '170 pages, which includes the highest level of transparency measures on nuclear program; which includes every objective guarantee for non-diversion of the peaceful nuclear program to weapon program.'
That is why Chinese, Russians, Europeans, Indians, and overwhelming majority of international community were supporting the deal, he said.
The International Atommic Energy Agency (IAEA) in its latest report in May verified Iran's compliance to the deal for the eleventh time since the agreement was implemented in 2016.
Despite the commitment, the US President Donald Trump withdrew from the deal on May 8, 2018, calling it the worst deal ever and re-imposed unilateral economic sanctions against Iran.
Commenting on US withdrawal from the nuclear deal and its follow-up anti-Iran measures, the Iranian former diplomat said, 'One of the elements of the deal is that all six powers […] had been committed to deliver economic benefits to Iran in return for such a deal. Now the US is violating the deal. The US is violating the United Nations Security Council resolution. The US is violating 12 resolutions of International Atomic Energy Agency. But worse, the US is punishing the other countries and Iran because of full implementation of a deal reached and is a UN Resolution.'
Washington has threatened to impose sanctions on the countries, unless they cut all trade ties with Iran and reduce their oil imports from the Middle Eastern country by November.
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