Iran urges to destroy all atomic weapons after N.Korea nuclear test
Iran has confirmed that its higher-grade enriched uranium is being converted into reactor fuel, an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson announced. He also called for destruction of all nuclear arms following N. Korea’s third nuclear test.
“We need to come to the point where no country has any nuclear weapons and at the same time all weapons of mass destruction and nuclear arms need to be destroyed,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ramin Mehmanparast told state news agency IRNA.
However, countries should have the right to “make use of nuclear activities for peaceful purposes,” he added.
Speaking in Moscow, Iran’s foreign minister Ali Akbar Salehi also said that North Korea as a sovereign state had its right to carry out a nuclear test.
“North Korea, as far as I know, is not signatory to Non-Proliferation Treaty, so it can afford acting according to its own interests,” Salehi told journalists.
Pyongyang withdrew from the NPT in 2003 to protest accusations of launching an enriched uranium weapons program. Salehi added that Iran is not considering quitting the treaty.
Referring to recent media reports that Iran had already converted some of its 20-percent-enriched uranium into fuel for the Tehran Research Reactor, Mehmanparast said that “this work is being done and all its reports have been sent to the International Atomic Energy Agency in a complete manner.”
The spokesperson added that Iran is ready to allow nuclear inspectors to visit their Parchin military site, providing world powers recognize Tehran’s right to enrich uranium. The International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN’s nuclear watchdog, believes Iran might be using Parchin to develop nuclear weapons.
US calls N. Korean nuclear test ‘threat to national security’
Washington considers the latest nuclear test by North Korea a threat to US national security, and has threatened “swift and credible action.” Pyongyang responded by warning of further confrontation, unless pressures on the country are lifted.
The US “will also continue to take steps necessary to defend ourselves and our allies,” President Barack Obama said in a statement, adding that Washington will be “vigilant in the face of North Korean provocations and steadfast in our defense commitments to allies in the region.”
Despite pressure from other nations, North Korea proceeded with its plans to carry out its third nuclear test on Tuesday, detonating a device with an estimated yield of about seven kilotons. The move prompted outrage from abroad, which Pyongyang said the test was necessary to defend its national security and sovereignty from the US and its allies.
After the test sparked international condemnation, Pyongyang threatened that if the US responds to the test “with hostility,” then unspecified “second and third measures” may follow. This corresponds with earlier speculation that Pyongyang seeks to detonate more than one nuclear device.
Pyongyang also said it would not bow to international pressure, including resolutions by the UN Security Council that ban North Korea from developing either nuclear or rocket technology.
“The US and their followers are sadly mistaken if they miscalculate the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] would respect the entirely unreasonable resolutions against it. The DPRK will never bow to any resolutions,” Jon Yong Ryong, first secretary of North Korea’s mission in Geneva, told the Conference on Disarmament.
The diplomat added that if its southern neighbor wants peace in the Korean Peninsula, it should urge Washington “to terminate its hostile policy towards” North Korea.
Just days before the third nuclear test was carried out, the South Korean military said it may launch a pre-emptive strike on North Korea to prevent it. The US also said that such action was an option.
N. Korea conducts 3rd nuclear test, warns more ‘measures’ may come
A defiant North Korea has conducted its third nuclear test, prompting a wave of international criticism from governments and other organization. It also said that more “measures” may follow, raising concerns that more nuclear devices may be exploded.
Track LIVE UPDATES on the fallout of the North Korean nuclear test.
Pyongyang said the Tuesday morning explosion was part of an effort to protect its national security and sovereignty, citing US opposition to the recent North Korean space launch.
“It was confirmed that the nuclear test – that was carried out at a high level in a safe and perfect manner using a miniaturized and lighter nuclear device with greater explosive force than previously – did not pose any negative impact on the surrounding ecological environment,” North Korea’s KCNA state news agency said.
The UNSC has condemned the test by North Korea, calling it a “great violation of Security Council resolutions,” which poses “continuously a clear threat to international peace and security.”
The UN Security Council has unanimously approved the non-binding statement. The 15-member council “will begin work immediately on appropriate measures”.
The move came in defiance of the UN and individual nations, which have pressured North Korea not to proceed with its plan. After the test sparked condemnation, Pyongyang threatened that if the US responds to the test “with hostility,” then unspecified “second and third measures” may follow. This corresponds with earlier speculation that Pyongyang seeks to detonate more than one nuclear device.
North Korean diplomat Jon Yong Ryong also told the UN disarmament forum in Geneva that his country “will never bow down to any resolution,” in respondr to criticisms that the nuclear test violated several UN Security Council resolutions banning such actions.
South Korean President-elect Park Geun-hye strongly condemned the new test. She said her incoming administration would not tolerate a nuclear-armed North Korea “under any circumstances,” and pledged to enact strong deterrence measures against Pyongyang’s nuclear program.