07.02.2022, Moscow.
Iran does not have nuclear weapons, their appropriate delivery means, and is it not working in this direction, hence, demonizing this country is a dead end, said Vladimir Yermakov, Director of the Department for Nonproliferation and Arms Control of the Russian Foreign Ministry on February 7 in an interview to RIA Novosti.
According to him, Tehran strictly follows UN Security Council Resolution 2231, which calls on Iran not to carry out activities related to the design and development of ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons. In order to relieve their concerns, the Persian Gulf countries need to conduct a dialogue on regional security issues, believes the diplomat. And, it must involve Iran, he said.
“In fact, Iran does not have anything that its neighbors in the region would not have. ‘Demonization’ of Iran is a dead end. What’s needed is a broad and comprehensive discussion on regional security issues, where the Gulf countries could create mechanisms of trust and transparency that would remove their concern and suspicion towards each other. Such a conversation cannot be conducted without Iran and against it,” said Yermakov.
The universal principle of equal and indivisible security plays a key role in this regard, stressed the official. This implies that the security problems of some countries cannot be solved at the expense of other states or to their detriment. The same applies to the situation in the Euro-Atlantic area, added the diplomat.
The reasons for having talks about the Iranian threat is the desire to interfere with country’s international cooperation, believes Yermakov. “Talks about missile threat are usually based on the theory that Iran has to be contained everywhere; and its international cooperation has to be limited to the maximum extent, including the space exploration. Additionally, the Iranian missile threat was actively exaggerated in the West as a justification for the deployment of the US National missile defense (NMD) program in Europe. All this was “the writing on the wall,” noted the diplomat.
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
