مصر تطالب بإخلاء الشرق الأوسط من الأسلحة النووية

Egypt has emphasized the utmost importance of making the Middle East free of nuclear weapons and continuing its efforts to achieve this goal, which represents a fundamental step towards ensuring security and stability at both the regional and international levels, and contributes to halting an arms race that threatens international peace and security, leading to a world free of nuclear weapons.

Egypt stressed - in a statement - that it has always been at the forefront of countries supporting these efforts since the launch of the initiative to establish a nuclear-weapon-free zone in 1974 within the framework of the United Nations, which reflects a steadfast commitment and a strategic vision to protect the peoples of the region from the dangers of nuclear proliferation.

Egypt renewed its call aimed at achieving the universality of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, especially in the Middle East, leading to the accession of all countries in the region without exception to the treaty and subjecting all their nuclear facilities to the oversight of the International Atomic Energy Agency through comprehensive safeguard agreements, ensuring transparency and avoiding double standards in dealing with nuclear programs in the Middle East, and preventing the escalation of regional tensions.

Egypt expressed its concern about the serious threat humanity faces due to the continued existence of nuclear weapons, calling on the international community to address this danger with utmost seriousness and to fulfill its responsibilities in ensuring the full implementation of the nuclear disarmament commitments of the Non-Proliferation Treaty as one of its core pillars.

Egypt affirmed that the decision issued by the Review and Extension Conference of the Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1995 regarding the establishment of a nuclear-weapon-free zone and weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East represents a clear international commitment, and its implementation is an integral part of the indefinite extension deal of the treaty and maintaining the credibility of the entire non-proliferation regime.

Egypt's call comes in the context of preparations for the 69th General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna (September 15-19), which discusses issues of compliance with the treaty and nuclear programs in the region. This call is accompanied by increasing concern over escalating regional tensions, including conflicts in Gaza and Syria, and tensions between Israel and Iran, along with fears of a potential nuclear arms race.

The initiative to establish a nuclear-weapon-free zone and weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East has been a fundamental pillar of Egyptian foreign policy since the 1970s. This call officially began in 1974 when Egypt, in cooperation with Iran at the time, proposed to the United Nations General Assembly the establishment of a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East, a proposal that was later adopted in repeated United Nations resolutions.

This initiative came in the context of regional tensions, especially after the October War of 1973, and increasing fears of nuclear proliferation in the region, particularly with doubts surrounding the nuclear programs of certain countries.

The Egyptian call is based on the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, which entered into force in 1970, aimed at preventing the spread of nuclear weapons, promoting nuclear disarmament, and encouraging the peaceful use of nuclear energy. Egypt joined the treaty in 1981, but has always expressed reservations about what it sees as "double standards" in the application of the treaty, especially concerning Israel, which has not signed the treaty and is believed to possess an undeclared nuclear arsenal, according to estimates from international research centers such as the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, which estimates its arsenal to be between 80 to 200 nuclear warheads.