tass.com · Feb 23, 2026 · Collected from GDELT
Published: 20260223T211500Z
TEHRAN, February 23. /TASS/. A senior Iranian diplomat has cited Israel’s "nuclear arsenal" as a key obstacle for creating a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East. "Israel’s nuclear arsenal is the main obstacle on the path of creating a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East," Iran’s state television quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi as saying at the high-level segment meeting of the UN Conference on Disarmament. "The continued reliance of a number of governments on nuclear weapons in their security strategies is in clear contradiction with their international obligations," he stressed. The senior Iranian diplomat once again confirmed that Tehran’s nuclear program has purely peaceful nature. "Iran has no nuclear weapons, and is not seeking to obtain them," he said, adding that his country’s nuclear program "is being developed on the basis of legal commitments, as well as on the country’s moral principles that reject mass destruction weapons." He stressed that Tehran is ready to cooperate with other countries "to strengthen the international architecture of disarmament and the movement toward a nuclear-weapon-free world.".