IRNA � Deputy Foreign Minister for legal and international affairs Abbas Araqchi said here on Monday that Trump 's act to recognize holy Quds, as the Zionist regime capital, was a message to express US support for the regime, a support which was a little shaky during Obama.


He made the remarks in National Conference on great powers and regional security in west of Asia.

West Asia region is facing different threats and numerous elements of tensions and one of the most important problems in the region is arms race in the Middle East, as upon estimate by the research institutes, the region is the largest arms market in the world.

Since 2012 armament market had 10 percent increase and this growth in the region of west Asia and the Middle East had more serious form.

Araqchi said that Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey were the biggest buyers and the US was the largest weapon seller in the Middle East.

Saudi military budget in 2017 was 64 billion dollars and the Saudi Arabia after the US, China, Russia had the fourth military budget in the world and the Zionist regime ranked fifth in this concern, while Iran stood at level 19.

In addition to this conventional arms race, unconventional weapons should be added as well, which is mainly at the hands of the Zionist regime.

Araqchi told the conference that it is said the regime has 75 to 400 or even 700 atomic warheads, which is a source of concern.

He added that Pakistan has 100 to 110 nuclear warheads and has necessary materials to produce 200 more and India has around 100 atomic warheads.

In the field of chemical arsenals Israel and Egypt are the two states, which did not join Convention on Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (CPCW), which is another cause of concern.

The idea of Middle East free of mass destruction weapon was proposed in late 1990s by Iran and Egypt, but it did not reach any conclusion and the Zionist regime, US did not allow it take shape in the region.

Araqchi added that unsymmetrical weapons are another source of insecurity in the region, which are in hands of terrorists such as a suicide bombed car, which works like a missile.

He said that terrorism phenomenon is a serious element for insecurity, tension and threat, which create economic threat as well and pave the ground for social threat and ethnical and sectarian conflicts.

The deputy foreign minister said the issues like under-development, poverty, social class gaps, unemployment and illiteracy are among other problems in the region of West Asia.