TEHRAN (Iran News) – Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Abbas Mousavi on Saturday said France latest ballistic missile test was against Paris commitments to nuclear disarmament.
Launching a new generation of M51 intercontinental nuclear ballistic missiles by France “is against the spirit and letter of Article VI of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and is also incompatible with France’s commitment to the nuclear disarmament,” Mousavi said according to a report by IRNA.
France test-fired an M51 submarine-launched ballistic missile in the early hours of June 12th, 2020. Each M51 ballistic missile carries up to ten independently targetable warheads.
Expressing concern over Paris’s latest move, Mousavi said the Islamic Republic of Iran believed that the French government must live up to its international obligations in accordance with Article VI of the NPT as well as the statement of its Review Conference.
Based on the Article VI of the NPT, “Each of the Parties to the Treaty undertakes to pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament, and on a treaty on general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control.”
Referring to nuclear weapons as threats against international peace and security, Mousavi said renovation or testing nuclear weapons would undermine the NPT which is the cornerstone of global nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament.
- source : Iran Daily, Irannews
