Syrian FM, Walid Al-Mu'allem, Views Israel's Nuclear Arsenal as Main Threat to Middle East Peace

April 17, 2010

TEHRAN (FNA)-

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Al-Mu'allem called Israel's stockpiles of nuclear weapons as the main threat to the Middle East peace and stability.

"Israel is the main nuclear threat in the Middle East," Mu'allem told reporters on the sidelines of a two-day international conference on nuclear disarmament here in Tehran which kicked off on Saturday.

Foreign ministers, representatives and nuclear experts from 60 countries are participating in the event to discuss challenges on nuclear disarmament, countries' commitments to nuclear dismantlement and disarmament and aftermaths of inaction in the destruction of the weapons of mass-destruction (WMDs).

Mu'allem said Syria has participated in the conference in a bid to help form a global resolve to advance nuclear disarmament.

The Syrian minister further urged the US and Russia to remain loyal to their recently endorsed nuclear disarmament treaty and comply with its contents.

US President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev signed the agreement recently in Prague. It envisages shrinking the US and Russian nuclear warhead limit by about a third, to 1,550.

The reduction to 1,550 is 74% lower than the limit set in the original START deal and 30% lower than the one established under the 2002 Moscow Treaty.

After the White House and Kremlin signed the agreement, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad described the deal as a show and a "big lie" by the US.

"… that you say you want to block proliferation nuclear arms is a big lie and even the US administration's performance in the last few days has been a big lie as well," Ahmadinejad said last week, addressing a ceremony to mark the "National Day of Nuclear Technology" in Iran.

Noting that stockpiling nuclear weapons by the US and certain world powers is an incentive for other countries to develop such arms, the Iranian president reiterated, "When we ask them why they store nuclear weapons and if they intend to use them against (other) nations, they say 'we have stored them for deterrence'."

"If nuclear weapons are deterrent, firstly, why don't others have them as everyone likes to enjoy a deterrent power. Secondly, the policy leads to a serious race among rivals on nuclear weapons as everyone wants to have the upper hand in deterrence and those with a lower hand do not enjoy any power of deterrence," he added.

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