Syria echoes Arab calls for Israel to join nuclear nonproliferation treaty

Syria calls for Israel to join nuclear treaty

UNITED NATIONS — Syria says Israel must comply with the demands of the International Atomic Energy Agency if the Mideast is to become a region free of weapons of mass destruction.

Syria’s Foreign Minister Walid Al-Moualem echoed on Monday calls by many Arab nations at the U.N. General Assembly for Israel to comply with the IAEA’s demand to submit its nuclear facilities to the agency’s safeguard regime, and to adhere to the Non-Proliferation Treaty. The treaty restricts any nuclear program to nonmilitary purposes.

Israel has never said it has nuclear weapons, but is universally believed to possess a large arsenal of such warheads.

While the U.S. and its allies consider Iran the region’s greatest proliferation threat, Islamic nations insist Israel is the true danger, saying they fear its nuclear weapons capacity.