IRNA � The Iran Nuclear deal is now a part of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and there is no replacement for it in the region, said Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister.

�If the US wants to �tear it up�, it should answer if the Middle East without the Deal is a safer one,' said Abbas Araqchi, in a seminar titled �Regional Security in West Asia; Emerging Challenges and Trends� on Wednesday in Tehran.

He said the arms military trends in the region are worrying. He also referred to conventional, non-conventional, and asymmetric weapons.

Regarding the conventional weapons, it is a fact that West Asia has changed to the biggest market in the world, in a way that the weapons sale has increased by %10 since 2012, which has been unprecedented since the Cold War, Araqchi said.

The Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs said that one third of the weaponry is provided by the US, one fourth by Russia, and the rest by China and some European countries. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey are the biggest customers of weaponry.

He added that the West�s tendency to sell weapons and its handsome profits are among the major factors paving the way for making crisis and tensions in the Middle East; one can easily see the footprints of arms sellers in all the crises of the region.

Referring to the 400-0billion deal between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the US, Araqchi said, �Another reason that has recently been added is some regional countries� inclination to please the new US president and to buy the US domestic policies through petrodollars.�

Regarding the non-conventional weapons, he said that it is estimated that the Zionist regime has 85 to 400 nuclear warheads.

Talking about the concept of the nuclear-free Middle East, he said that the idea was probably put forward about 70 years ago; Iran and Egypt initiated the idea, but the obstacle was the Zionist regime, that didn�t let the nuclear-free zone be formed.

NPT revision conference in 2010 it was scheduled to hold a international conference on that, but the sabotage of the Zionist regime and the US support of the Zionists the nuclear-free zone didn�t take form. The same thing happened in 2015.

Although some measures have been taken to stop the repetition of the previous failures in 2020, it is still possible that the revision conference will be ruined, Araqchi added.

Referring to the fact that there are clear documents that the Zionist movements and Daesh have used chemical weapons, he said, �Syria joined the convention to stop further pretext-seeking.�