The vote was undertaken by the UN’s First Committee which deals with disarmament, global challenges and threats to peace that affect the international community and seeks out solutions to the challenges in the international security.

Four countries – Canada, Micronesia, Palau, and the United States – as well as the Israeli regime, opposed the resolution on the “risk of nuclear proliferation in the Middle East (West Asia).” Another 24 countries abstained, including some members of the European Union.

The resolution declares that Israel is the only entity in the West Asia region and one of the few UN members (193 total) that has not signed the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).

The significant support for the resolution at the UNGA in New York reflects the widespread international frustration with the Israeli regime’s nuclear threat in West Asia. This is especially true when the number of countries Israel has invaded or attacked and the countless number of genocides it has committed is taken into consideration. The existence of Israeli nukes has in essence made the occupying regime an extreme source of insecurity in the region.

The resolution reaffirmed “the importance of Israel’s accession to the NPT and placement of all its nuclear facilities under comprehensive International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards, in realizing the goal of universal adherence to the Treaty in the Middle East (West Asia).”

It further called on Israel “to accede to the Treaty without further delay, not to develop, produce, test, or otherwise acquire nuclear weapons, to renounce possession of nuclear weapons, and to place all its unsafe guarded nuclear facilities under the full scope of Agency safeguards as an important confidence-building measure among all States of the region and as a step toward enhancing peace and security.”

Despite the extensive Western propaganda and hysteria focusing on Iran’s nuclear program, which the IAEA has on different occasions deemed as peaceful, the resolution highlights how Israel is the real threat to the region.

On Friday a proposal for a nuclear-free zone West Asia was also accepted by the First Committee with 170 votes, including Iran. Not surprisingly perhaps, Israel was the only entity to, once again, oppose the text as it has similarly done at the United Nations many times before. The United States, Cameron, Comoros, and Tanzania were the only four nations to abstain.

Iran’s Representative at the First Committee of the UN General Assembly, Heidar Ali Balouji, slammed Israel over its acquisition of weapons of mass destruction and enormous conventional military spending.

“In addition to its WMDs, the large arsenal of sophisticated offensive conventional weapons of the Israeli regime continues to threaten the peace and security of the region and beyond. This regime is the largest cumulative recipient of U.S. foreign assistance since World War II,” Balouji said.

“Last year, Israel with 5.2 percent of its GDP spent $24.3 billion [on military] and is among the top five military spenders in West Asia,” he added.

In 1986 Mordechai Vanunu, a low-level technician at Israel’s Dimona nuclear plant, hit the headlines when he exposed Israel’s nuclear secrets to the world. The regime sent him to jail. In 2004 he completed an 18-year sentence, most of which was spent in solitary confinement. However, strict conditions were attached to his release, including a ban on leaving Israel, a ban on entering the Palestinian territories and a ban on speaking to foreign journalists.

Since his release, Vanunu has, at least, twice served jail terms after convictions for alleged parole violations.

Not only is Israel in possession of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction, the regime has also been dumping its nuclear and radioactive waste in the occupied West Bank, where Palestinians reside. According to many reports emerging over the past years, there are increasing fears of high rates of various types of cancers, and congenital malformations in the southern West Bank regions.

Israel has turned the Palestinian towns and villages into a dumping ground for its nuclear and radioactive waste.

Further research in the Palestinian city of al-Khalil shows that residents there are suffering from radioactive pollution, with reports indicating that the radiation comes from the Israeli nuclear facilities and the storage of nuclear waste in the area.

It may also be a result of weapons containing depleted uranium used against the Palestinians.

Based to many studies and researches, is it widely believed that there is a strong link between radiation and nuclear waste from the Israeli Dimona reactor (where construction on the nuclear weapons plant was completed in 1963) and increase in cases of cancer in the southern West Bank.

The same areas in the southern occupied West Bank did not witness any cases of cancer before the Israeli plant began manufacturing nuclear weapons. There are now many Palestinians suffering from cancer and congenital malformations as well as recurrent miscarriages of women.

According to one investigation by the Arabic Post, the Israeli authorities did not heed any official warnings by Palestinian officials, who expressed strong concern about the dangers of high levels of nuclear radiation in the atmosphere and groundwater of areas in the southern West Bank, in particular the city of al-Khalil (Hebron), which records annually record levels of cancer and fetal abnormalities.

In December 2021, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh accused Israel of burying dangerous nuclear waste such as burnt oils, chemical and electronic waste and others in the Palestinian territories; this constitutes a long-term threat to the Palestinian environment (soil, water, air and wildlife), in addition to the outbreak of cancer cases and congenital malformations.

“There are 6,251 cancer patients, which is a high percentage compared to neighboring countries,” Shtayyeh explained.

He has also attributed the reason to the fact that the Israelis use the occupied territories as a dumping ground for nuclear waste.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani has said the advanced Israeli nuclear program poses a serious threat to international security and stability.

“The advanced nuclear military program of the apartheid regime of Israel and the regime’s continued reluctance to put its nuclear facilities under comprehensive safeguards and not to join the non-proliferation treaty is a serious threat to international security and the non-proliferation regime,” Kanaani said in a post on social media.

The spokesperson has also urged the IAEA to fulfill its mandate in this regard.

It is worthy to note that the Israel regime is estimated to have 200 to 400 nuclear warheads in its arsenal, owing to its deliberate ambiguity about its nuclear policy. It has repeatedly rebuffed inspections of its military nuclear facilities, not to mention refusing to sign the NPT.

However, Iran is a signatory to the NPT and has consistently maintained that its nuclear program is entirely civilian and subject to the most stringent UN oversight in the world.

The policy of double standards is very clear. When it comes to halting the proliferation of nuclear weapons, Israel is exempted from accountability. As a signatory to the NPT, Iran has a peaceful program for energy and medical purposes, yet it is subject to the most stringent inspection program in the history of the IAEA. However, the West has imposed the most painful sanctions regime on the Islamic Republic.

Israel, which has hundreds of nuclear warheads is not subject to any punitive measures. On the contrary, the regime is endlessly rewarded with more military weapons (paid for by American taxpayers), more money as well as more diplomatic and political support.

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TEHRAN (Iran News) – Research has shown that global military expenditure reached a record level last year despite the second year of the pandemic.

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) says in 2021, world military spending continued to increase, reaching an all-time high of $2.1 trillion, making it the seventh consecutive year that spending on military has grown.

SIPRI says “even amid the economic fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic, world military spending hit record levels.”

Dr. Diego Lopes da Silva, Senior Researcher with SIPRI’s Military Expenditure and Arms Production Program noted “there was a slowdown in the rate of real-term growth due to inflation. In nominal terms, however, military spending grew by 6.1 percent.”

Topping the list once again is the U.S. with total spending on military purposes amounting to a massive $801 billion.

Between 2012 and 2021, U.S. funding for military research and development rose by 24 percent, with SIPRI pointing out ‘the U.S. Government has repeatedly stressed the need to preserve the U.S. military’s technological edge over strategic competitors.”

Whether that “technological edge” is effective considering American weapons’ use by other countries that have purchased the equipment is open for debate.

Amid increasing global tensions analysts would argue it’s natural for nations to increase their military expenditures.

What’s not natural is the amount America is spending on weapons. What’s also not natural is the U.S. nuclear weapons arsenal.

It is worth highlighting SIPRI’s latest research on U.S. nuclear weapons.

According to the prominent independent research institute, as of January 2021, the U.S. maintained a stockpile of at least 3800 nuclear warheads.

Approximately 1800 of these, consisting of about 1700 strategic and 100 tactical warheads, were deployed on aircraft, ballistic missiles, and submarines.

In addition to the 3800 nuclear warheads, about 2000 were held in reserve, and around 1750 retired warheads were awaiting dismantlement (250 fewer than the estimate for 2020), which means Washington as of early 2021 had a total of at least 5550 nuclear warheads.

However, as SIPRI notes, these estimates are based on information made available publicly by the U.S.  on its nuclear stockpile.

In 2010, for the first time, the U.S. reportedly declassified the entire history of its nuclear weapon stockpile size.

However, since 2019 there has been a lack of transparency by the Pentagon on this sensitive global security matter.

SIPRI says this was evidenced by the fact that in 2020, as had been the case in 2019, the administration of former President Donald Trump declined to declassify the number of nuclear weapons in stockpile and the number of retired warheads that had been dismantled over the year.

To make matters worse, the refusal to declassify was not explained and provided political cover for some other nuclear ­armed states to be less transparent.

The end result made an accurate independent assessment of the U.S. nuclear arsenal significantly harder, which means the figures can be higher.

These figures also do not count warheads stored at warplane bomber bases.

So what do we know before the U.S. began hiding its information again from the public domain?

U.S. nuclear offensive weapons include heavy bomber warplanes, land­ based intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), and Sub-surface ballistic nuclear, a nuclear-powered submarine carrying and launching ballistic missiles armed with nuclear weapons (SSBNs).

These forces, together known as the triad, changed little during 2020. SIPRI estimates that a total of 3570 nuclear warheads are assigned to the triad, of which an estimated 1700 warheads are deployed on missiles and at bomber bases.

The U.S. Air Force (USAF) operates a fleet of at least 169 heavy bombers, of which 66 are capable of firing nuclear weapons.

The B­2A heavy bomber can deliver gravity bombs and the B­52H heavy bomber can fire air­ launched nuclear cruise missiles.

SIPRI estimates that almost 850 war­ heads are assigned to strategic bombers, of which about 300 are deployed at bomber bases and ready for delivery on short notice.

Both the B­2As and B­52Hs are undergoing modernization intended to improve their ability to receive and transmit secure nuclear mission data.

This includes the ability to communicate with the Advanced Extreme High Frequency (AEHF) satellite network used by the US president and military leadership to transmit launch orders and manage nuclear operations.

The development of the next­ generation-long ­range strike bomber, known as the B­21 Raider, is well underway and the first two test aircraft are being constructed

The B­21 will be capable of delivering two types of nuclear weapons: the guided nuclear gravity bomb, which is nearing full­scale production and will also be deliverable from shorter ­range non­strategic aircraft as well as a longer range nuclear which is in development.

The new B­21 bomber is scheduled to enter service in the mid-2020s.

The number of U.S. nuclear bomber bases with nuclear weapon storage capacity is expected to increase from two as of January 2021 to five by the early 2030s.

USAF is planning to acquire at least 100 (but possibly as many as 145) B­21 bombers by the mid-2030s.

As for land­based nuclear missiles and as of January 2021, the U.S. deployed 400 Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) in 450 silos across three missile wings.

The 50 empty silos are kept in a state of readiness and can be reloaded with stored missiles if necessary. Each Minuteman III ICBM is armed with one warhead.

SIPRI estimates there are at least 800 warheads assigned to the ICBM force, of which 400 are deployed on the missiles.

USAF awarded a $13.3 billion contract to upgrade the nuclear-armed ICBMs with the purpose of “increased accuracy, extended range, and improved reliability.”

SIPRI notes Washington has yet to publicly provide a rationale for why these enhanced capabilities are needed for the ICBM mission?

The U.S. Navy, meanwhile, operates a fleet of 14 Ohio­class SSBNs, of which 12 are norm­ally considered to be operational and two are typically undergoing refueling and overhaul at any given time.

Each Ohio­class SSBN can carry up to 20 Trident II D5 submarine­ launched nuclear ballistic missiles (SLBMs).

Since 2017, the U.S. Navy has been replacing these SLBMs with an enhanced version. The upgrade is scheduled to be completed in 2024.

U.S. tactical nuclear forces include nuclear bombs delivered by several types of short­range fighter­bomber aircraft, as well as potentially a future nuclear ­armed SLCM.

The U.S. has one basic type of air­delivered tactical weapon in its stockpile, the B61 gravity bomb, which exists in two versions.

SIPRI estimates that the U.S. deploys approximately 100 of the bombs for potential use by fighter­bomber aircraft at six air bases in five other member states of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO): Kleine Brogel in Belgium; Bushel in Germany; Aviano and Ghedi in Italy; Volkel in the Netherlands; and İncirlik in Turkey.

The remaining B61 bombs are thought to be stored at Kirtland AFB in New Mexico for potential use by U.S. warplanes in support of allies outside Europe, including in East Asia.

The U.S. is also close to completing the development of the B61­12 guided nuclear bomb, which will replace all existing versions of the B61 (both strategic and tactical).

Delivery is expected to take place this year. The new version is equipped with a guided tail kit that enables it to hit targets more accurately, meaning that it could be used with a lower yield and potentially produce less radioactive fallout.

Experts say the U.S.’s very existence is based on launching and instigating military conflicts around the globe yet has a disturbing stockpile of nuclear warheads.

And the country has used and tested nuclear weapons on too many occasions, including 67 times against the natives of the Martial Islands.

How much of a danger does the nuclear-armed U.S. pose to future global security and co-existence?

Meanwhile, consecutive U.S. administrations allege without any evidence Iran (which has not launched a military conflict against another country for hundreds of years) seeks a nuclear weapons program, despite the U.S. intelligence community begging to differ.

In 2019, the White House publicly clashed with the U.S. intelligence community’s own assessment that Iran is not pursuing a nuclear weapons program.

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“We will not look for nuclear weapons, but for the peaceful nuclear technologies that are our right,” he stressed.

“We are a member of the NPT, we have a contract with the agency as a safeguard and we carry out this safeguard and we have done so far,” Rouhani noted.

Stating that Iran does not want to have covert nuclear activity, the President said, “This is a decisive decision of Iran, whether Europe, the United States or the United Nations wants it or not. Our opinion is the same as the opinion of the Leader, which was announced as a fatwa.”

“When Trump left the JCPOA under the pressure of Israel regime and Saudi Arabia, we went to the United Nations at the end of September 2018, and on the first day of the General Assembly, after Trump’s speech, he texted me eight times and wanted to meet with me. I rejected,” he added.

Iranian President highlighted, “Europe should know that if we wanted to accept the issue of missiles and the region for discussion, that Trump had returned to the JCPOA from the beginning, so nothing will be added to the JCPOA.”

“We will withdraw from the Additional Protocol on Feb. 23 and what will be implemented will be based on safeguards, if it is implemented, there will be no significant issue,” Rouhani noted.

Stating that Iran will not expel any inspectors from the country, he said, “If the Director-General of the Atomic Energy Agency wants to come to Tehran and negotiate, we will accept. We do not want our nuclear program to be uninspected. If someone says we are expelling the inspectors, it means we are looking for a nuclear weapon. The Additional Protocol is a step beyond safeguards.”

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