Iran calls for the destruction of all nuclear weapons

Just hours after North Korea conducted its third nuclear test, Iran officials have called on world powers to abolish all nuclear weapons.

“We need to come to the point where no country has any nuclear weapons and at the same time all weapons of mass destruction and nuclear arms need to be destroyed,” said Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Ramin Mehmanparast, in a Times of Israel report. He added: Countries should still have the right to develop nuclear programs for peaceable uses, the report continues.

Iran has defended its nuclear program for years as a peaceable pursuit of energy and tossed off international accusations that it seeks nuclear weapons. In its latest defense, Mr. Mehmanparsat said in the Times of Israel report that Iran is only converting highly-enriched uranium to nuclear fuel — not to develop nuclear weaponry.

“This work is being done and all its reports have been sent to the International Atomic Energy Agency in a complete manner,” he said, in the Times of Israel report.

Israel is one country that disagrees.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country was actively seeking a nuclear bomb and is nearing the “red line” — the point where Tehran’s nuclear weapons program cannot be stopped, he said, in the Times of Israel report.