March 1, 2011
Invited to speak in front of delegates at the Conference on Disarmament Aliakbar Salehi, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Islamic Republic of Iran, told the Conference that it was regrettable that long after the end of the Cold War, military alliances based on nuclear umbrellas existed, nuclear sharing continued and deployment of nuclear weapons in the territory of non-nuclear weapons States was exercised. It was high time that the Conference on Disarmament established an ad hoc committee to start its negotiations on a nuclear weapons convention as a matter of priority. At the regional level, the situation in the Middle East was alarming indeed. It stemmed from the possession of nuclear weapons by the Zionist regime, which made it a serious threat to the stability of the entire region and international peace and security. The constant use of inhumane weapons by this regime against civilians had further intensified the security concerns in the region; thus the desire for the establishment of a Middle East zone free of nuclear weapons.
