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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Suspend 'atomic criminal' US from IAEA: Iran |
| 2010-04-18 |
| [Al Arabiya Latest] Iran slammed the United States as an "atomic criminal" which should be suspended from the U.N. nuclear watchdog on Saturday, while urging changes to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). At a two-day nuclear disarmament conference in Tehran, the foreign ministers of Lebanon, Syria and Iraq voiced support for Iran's "peaceful" atomic program and demanded that Israel join the nuclear NPT "without conditions." At the start of the meeting, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ruled out any use of nuclear weaponry as "haram," meaning religiously banned under Islam. He branded the United States an "atomic criminal" and said it deceptively calls for non-proliferation while holding on to its own weapons and failing to confront Israel, which is widely believed to have nuclear bombs. "The deceptive policy by the sole nuclear offender, which falsely claims to be advocating the non-proliferation of nuclear arms while doing nothing substantive for this cause, will never succeed," Khamenei said. Iran's conference brought together representatives from 60 countries, including China, Russia, Pakistan, Iraq, Turkey and France, as well as delegates from international bodies and non-governmental organizations, according to Iranian media. The supreme leader, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and several other senior Iranian officials took turns at the podium to warn that America's nuclear policy was endangering the world and encouraging nations to consider withdrawing from the Non-Nuclear Proliferation Treaty. Hard-line President Ahmadinejad went a step further and called for Washington's suspension from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) along with all other nations which possess nuclear arms. "Only the U.S. government has committed an atomic crime," said the message of the all-powerful Khamenei who formulates Tehran's foreign policy, including its nuclear strategy. "The world's only atomic criminal lies and presents itself as being against nuclear weapons proliferation, while it has not taken any serious measures in this regard," he said. Ahmadinejad, under whose presidency Iran has aggressively pushed ahead with a controversial nuclear program despite three sets of U.N. sanctions, attacked the present structure of the U.N. Security Council, the IAEA and the NPT. "An independent international group which plans and oversees nuclear disarmament and prevents proliferation should be set up," he told the conference attended by several foreign ministers and U.N. officials. He said those countries which "possess, have used or threatened to use nuclear weapons should be suspended from the IAEA and its board of governors, especially the U.S." |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 you've been hit by... an atomic criminal... doo doo doo doo doo doo |
| Posted by: Yo Adrian 2010-04-18 10:42 |