Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad used a UN conference on Monday to blast the United States for threatening to use atomic weapons, triggering a walkout by US and other delegates. “Regrettably, ther government of the United States has not only used nuclear weapons but also continues to threaten to use such weapons against other countries, including Iran,” Mr Ahmadinejad told the opening session of a meeting reviewing the landmark Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was due to speak later in the day, with the US-Iranian nuclear standoff clearly looming large over the conference, which runs through May 28. Ms Clinton had warned on Sunday that Iran would try to divert attention at thr crucial meeting from its violations of its obligations under the NPT which it has signed along with 188 other states.
Mr Ahmadinejad said having nuclear weapons was “disgusting and shameful, and even more shameful is the threat to use or to use such weapons.” In Washington, the defence department was set to release previously classified statistics on the size of the US nuclear arsenal. This is part of a US drive to prove it is serious about disarmament and transparency about its nuclear weapons. In his 35-minute speech, Ahmadinejad called for the US to be suspended from the UN atomic watchdog’s executive board over its threats to use nuclear weapons.
“How can the US be a member of the board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency when its used nuclear weapons against Japan” and also used depleted uiranium weapons in the war against Iraq, he said. Besides the US, fellow nuclear powers Britain and France walked out. Non-nuclear states which also left included Germany, Finland, the Czech Republic and Morocco, according to a Western diplomat.