A senior Iranian UN envoy has condemned the new Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) passed by the UN General Assembly as politicized and discriminatory.Addressing the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, Irans Deputy Permanent Representative at the UN Gholam-Hossein Dehqani emphasized that while the major objective of the ATT was to regulate global arms trade, the final draft still provides for the transfer of weapons to armed forces deployed outside their own countries.
The Iranian envoy underlined that the transfer of arms to the Middle East and the Persian Gulf region has gravely affected the security and welfare of the people of this region and led to many lost lives in recent years.
He went on to say that the new treaty grants every right to major arms exporters while ignoring the right to purchase arms by countries in need of weapons for defending their territorial sovereignty.
The Iranian envoy emphasized that despite the Islamic Republics efforts to resolve various legal flaws in the draft treaty within the framework of constructive negotiations, its preparation was politically motivated.
This treaty, Dehghani added, has merely been drafted to satisfy the desires of the US and its Israeli ally.
The Iranian envoy also pointed to the treatys indifference toward the demand of many nations to prohibit the transfer of arms to countries engaged in military aggression against other nations.
Iran, Syria and North Korea voted against the ATT on Tuesday, while major arms exporters Russia and China, which had earlier raised major concerns about the final draft of the treaty, abstained from voting, along with over 20 other nations.
By Press TV
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