Iran elected to UN disarmament committee post

End Of Days News

Panel deals with all matters regarding disarmament — including nuclear weapons; Iran official will report to General Assembly on ‘challenges and threats’ to global peace

Members of the UN General Assembly on Tuesday elected Iran as rapporteur for the committee responsible for Disarmament and International Security, a body that deals with all matters regarding disarmament — including nuclear weapons. 

 

Replacing Norwegian diplomat Knut Langeland, the Iranian representative will relay information relating to the committee’s proceedings during the UN’s 68th session, spanning 2013-14, to the General Assembly.

 

In July, when Iran applied for the rapporteur position, Israel’s UN Ambassador Ron Prosor said in a statement that “allowing Iran to be on the UN committee dealing with nuclear disarmament and weapons proliferation is like inviting Assad, the Syrian dictator responsible for the death of 100,000 of his own people, to be the head of the population census bureau.”

In addition to appointing Iran as rapporteur, the committee gave the position of chair to Libya and vice chairs to Germany, Ecuador and Montenegro. More

White House: Obama shares Netanyahu’s goal on Iran

End Of Days News

Concerns over Tehran’s true intentions are ‘justifiable’ but there is a ‘window of opportunity’ for diplomacy, spokesman says

While avoiding any direct comment on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech at the United Nations General Assembly Tuesday, the White House expressed understanding of the Israeli leader’s doubts over Iran’s recent diplomatic overtures toward the West.

“We’ve said all along, as the president has said, we understand, and it is entirely justifiable, that Israel is skeptical about Iran and Iran’s intentions,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said in a press briefing hours after Netanyahu’s speech. “After all, this is a country [Iran] whose leadership, until recently, was pledging to annihilate Israel.” 

Responding to questions about Netanyahu’s aggressive rhetoric during his speech, in which he denounced Iranian President Hasan Rouhani’s conciliatory statements as a ruse, Carney asserted that the US, like Israel, was unwavering in its determination to thwart a nuclear-armed Iran. More