Statement by

Mr. Heidar Ali Balouji

First Counselor

Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations

Before the United Nations Disarmament Commission

On Nuclear Disarmament and Nonproliferation

New York, 6 April 2022

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful.

Mr. Chair,

I would like to join other delegations in congratulating your assumption of the chairmanship of this very important working group with a very important task of providing recommendations on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation; the goals which have been long-awaited by the international community. Please count on our full support in all endeavors to reach that noble goal. 

Mr. Chair,

Our strong conviction and active participation in the disarmament fora stems from three main strategic observations, namely, the bitter experience of being exposed to chemical weapons, as one of the WMDs and also being exposed to the illegitimate threat of the use of nuclear weapons, second, our strong religious belief that WMDs, besides many other reasons, are rejected due to their catastrophic inhuman results and third, our rational calculations of national interest especially taking into account the experience of other nuclear-weapon states and our conclusion that nuclear weapons do not and cannot bring security.

Therefore, we strongly support the total elimination of all nuclear weapons in the world; and in this regard, the NPT as the existing cornerstone of nuclear disarmament can play a crucial role. We support equal importance of all three pillars of the treaty and it is a regret to witness the imbalanced implementation of these pillars so far, especially nuclear disarmament which has been seemingly ignored by the nuclear-weapon states. 

Therefore, we strongly urge the nuclear-weapon states, having a special responsibility, to honor their legal obligations to fully implement the Art. VI of the NPT and take any step to comply with their obligations. In this regard, they should prove their political will with concrete steps like developing an updated disarmament action plan within a specific timeframe. Such a plan should contain, as a first step, halting research, development, testing, and production of nuclear weapons and delivery systems. The NWSs should also declare that they will not design, develop, or produce new nuclear weapons, or modify or modernize existing warheads to add military capabilities. In this regard, it is imperative to take any steps to eliminate any role of nuclear weapons in their military and security concepts, doctrines, and policies. These accomplishments ought to be followed by denouncing and prohibiting any use of nuclear weapons and must be complemented by the destruction of the nuclear arsenals. Declaring that “a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought” must be followed by action.  

Furthermore, I would like to underline that the approaches initiated by some nuclear umbrella states, over the years and under different names, like the step-by-step approach, building blocks approach, full-spectrum approach, progressive approach, and lately the stepping-stones approach have not brought about any meaningful effect towards nuclear disarmament. None of them can replace the real nuclear disarmament, and so does the moratoria not to fulfill nuclear disarmament. 

Mr. Chair, 

We advocate the establishment of regions free of nuclear weapons, especially in the Middle East, which needs the realization of universalization of NPT more than any region in the world. Iran has initiated raising this noble idea in the UN since 1974. We expect the meaningful support of the international community not to allow tolerating any possession of WMDs and threat to using them in the world and especially in the Middle East region. There are two processes emanating from the NPT RevCon in 1995 and also the UNGA resolution in 2018, and unfortunately, both of them are facing specific obstacles that the international community can play a decisive role to remove. 

 Last not least, we a need comprehensive convention on nuclear weapons, with obligations not only to prohibit the whole cycle of nuclear weapons, and their use but also to destroy the nuclear weapons in a verifiable and irreversible manner. The negotiations of this convention should commence as early as possible in the CD. And by the time of entry into force of such a convention, security assurances must be provided to all non-nuclear-weapon states.  

 Finally, on your proposal to review the proposed text paragraph by paragraph, Mr. Chair, my delegation is flexible with your proposal and would like to remind you that as mentioned in our written suggestions in 2018, section A also needs replacement with content that can be acceptable for all. For example, we do not support the idea of risk reduction in a way that is assumed a specific goal in itself.

Thank you