Pot and Kettle Alert. By Alexander G. Higgins for Associated Press, with thanks to all who sent this in:
GENEVA (AP) — Iran’s foreign minister accused Israel and the United States of posing the main threats to the security of the Middle East. The U.S. and Israeli delegations walked out during the speech Tuesday.
The comments from Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki come as Iran – under sanctions for its refusal to stop uranium enrichment – faces increasing pressure to open its nuclear program to greater scrutiny. The United States and some allies accuse Iran of using the atomic program as a pretext to build weapons; Iran says its intentions are peaceful.
Mottaki told the world’s top disarmament forum that Israel was the only country in the region that refuses to accede to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and said Prime Minister Ehud Olmert last year acknowledged that his country had nuclear weapons – which Olmert denies doing.
A nuclear-armed Israel poses “a uniquely grave threat to regional and international peace and security and requires to be seriously dealt with by the international community taking practical measures,” Mottaki told the 65-nation Conference on Disarmament.
Mottaki referred to Israel as “the Zionist regime,” which he said had “a long and dark record of crimes and atrocities such as occupation, aggression, militarism, state terrorism, crimes against humanity and apartheid.”