TEHRAN, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- The international community should pressure Israel to join the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), Iranian envoy to the UN nuclear watchdog was quoted by Press TV as saying on Friday.
Making Israel abide by the directives of the the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is the only way to bring peace to the Middle East, Kazem Gharibabadi, the Iranian ambassador and permanent representative to the IAEA, said.
Gharibabadi made the remarks in a Thursday address to the 62nd Annual Session of the IAEA General Conference in Vienna.
He also criticized the IAEA for what he called "giving in" to the Israeli pressures and for not following up on Israel's "dangerous" nuclear activities, according to the report.
Gharibabadi pointed to a longstanding UN-driven proposal to prohibit nuclear weapons in the region which was passed in 1974 and is named the Middle East Nuclear Weapon Free Zone, saying that a "lack of political will" had kept regional states from implementing such international decisions.
