Israeli nuclear capabilities and threat – Letter from Iraq

Letter dated 6 June 2002 from the Permanent Representative
of Iraq to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General

  On instructions from my Government, I have the honour to transmit to you herewith a letter from Mr. Naji Sabri, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Iraq, dated 6 June 2002, on the occasion of the twenty-first anniversary of the Zionist military aggression against Iraqi nuclear facilities intended for peaceful uses (see annex).

  I should be grateful if you would have this letter and its annex circulated as a document of the Security Council and of the General Assembly under item 48 of the provisional agenda of its fifty-seventh session, entitled “Armed Israeli aggression against the Iraqi nuclear installations and its grave consequences for the established international system concerning the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and international peace and security”.

(Signed) Mohammed A. Aldouri
Ambassador
Permanent Representative

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*A/57/50/Rev.1.

Annex to the letter dated 6 June 2002 from the Permanent Representative

of Iraq to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General

[Original: Arabic]

Letter dated 6 June 2002 from the Minister for Foreign Affairs

of Iraq addressed to the Secretary-General

  It is now the twenty-first anniversary of the armed Zionist military aggression against the Iraqi nuclear installations dedicated to peaceful purposes, Israeli warplanes having carried out an air attack on the city of Baghdad and targeted the Iraqi nuclear installations at 1837 hours on 7 June 1981. This Zionist aggression created a dangerous precedent in international relations, inasmuch as it targeted nuclear installations that were dedicated to peaceful purposes and subject to the full-scale safeguards regime of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and is an example of the use of force against an independent State in flagrant violation of the Charter of the United Nations and the norms of international law.

  In view of the immediate and future legal, political and environmental dimensions of this brutal aggression, international organizations adopted a series of resolutions and recommendations in its regard. The most significant responses from international organizations are set forth hereunder.

1.   The Board of Governors of IAEA, in its resolution of 12 June 1981, and the General Conference of IAEA, in its resolution GC(XXV)/RES/381 of 26 September 1981, condemned Israel in the strongest terms, decided to suspend its rights and privileges as a member of the Agency and the provision of any assistance to it under the Agency’s Technical Assistance Programme and requested the Security Council to keep the matter under review.

2.   In its resolution 487 (1981), the Security Council:

  Condemned the military attack by Israel in clear violation of the Charter of the United Nations and the norms of international conduct;

  Expressed deep concern about the danger to international peace and security created by the premeditated Israeli air attack on Iraqi nuclear installations on 7 June 1981;

  Called upon Israel to refrain in the future from any such acts or threats thereof;

  Considered that the Israeli attack constituted a serious threat to the entire IAEA safeguards regime, which is the foundation of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons;

  Recognized the inalienable sovereign right of Iraq and all other States, especially the developing countries, to establish programmes of technological and nuclear development to develop their economy and industry for peaceful purposes in accordance with their present and future needs and consistent with the internationally accepted objectives of preventing nuclear-weapons proliferation;

  Called upon Israel to place its nuclear facilities under IAEA safeguards;

  Considered that Iraq was entitled to appropriate redress for the destruction it had suffered, responsibility for which had been acknowledged by Israel.

3.   The General Assembly adopted five resolutions on the armed Zionist aggression against Iraqi nuclear facilities intended for peaceful uses, namely resolutions 36/27, 37/18, 38/9, 39/14 and 40/6, under the item entitled “Armed Israeli aggression against the Iraqi nuclear installations and its grave consequences for the established international system concerning the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and international peace and security”. In the aggregate of these resolutions, the Assembly:

  Strongly condemned Israel for the deliberate and unprecedented act of aggression that it had committed in violation of the Charter of the United Nations and the norms of international conduct, which created a threat to international peace and security;

  Condemned Israel’s refusal to comply with Security Council resolution 487 (1981);

  Strongly condemned Israel for the escalation of its acts of aggression in the region;

  Requested the Security Council to take urgent and effective measures to ensure that Israel complied without further delay with the provisions of resolution 487 (1981) and to deter Israel from repeating such an attack on nuclear facilities;

  Viewed with deep concern Israel’s refusal to comply with the relevant resolutions of the Security Council, the General Assembly and IAEA;

  Called upon States and organizations to discontinue their cooperation with and assistance to Israel in the nuclear field and to cease any provision to Israel of arms and related material of all types which enabled it to commit acts of aggression against other States;

  Noted with concern that Israel had refused to accede to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons despite repeated international appeals to do so, and called upon it urgently to place all its nuclear facilities under IAEA safeguards in accordance with Security Council resolution 487 (1981);

    Considered the Israeli act of aggression to be a violation and a denial of the inalienable sovereign right of States to scientific and technological progress for achieving economic and social development and raising the standards of peoples and the dignity of the human person, as well as a violation and a denial of inalienable human rights and the sovereign right of States to development; and affirmed the right of States to develop technological and nuclear programmes for peaceful purposes, in accordance with the internationally accepted objectives of preventing proliferation;

    Called upon the Security Council to institute effective enforcement action to prevent Israel from further endangering international peace and security through its acts of aggression and continued policies of expansion, occupation and annexation;

    Expressed its conviction that Israeli threats to attack nuclear installations in Iraq and in other countries would continue to jeopardize international peace and security in the region, and warned it to desist from such armed attacks against nuclear installations;

    Affirmed that Israel bore international responsibility for its aggression against the Iraqi nuclear installations dedicated to peaceful purposes;

    Expressed its grave concern over the misuse by Israel, in committing its acts of aggression against Arab countries, of the aircraft and weapons provided to it by the United States of America;

    Expressed alarm at the increasing information and evidence regarding Israel’s acquisition and development of nuclear weapons.

  In addition to the resolutions adopted by international organizations, many of the world’s countries have also issued statements condemning the Zionist military aggression against Iraqi nuclear installations that were dedicated to peaceful purposes and subject to the IAEA safeguards regime, considering it to be in violation of the Charter of the United Nations and the norms of international law and to create a dangerous precedent in international relations and calling for the protection of nuclear installations dedicated to peaceful purposes, for such attacks not to be repeated and for the aggressor to be deterred.

  Despite the fact that 21 years have elapsed since these resolutions expressing the will of the international community were adopted, the United Nations Security Council has not obliged the Zionist entity to implement any of these resolutions, which the latter has rejected. The Zionist entity is still refusing to accede to the Non-Proliferation Treaty, to dismantle its nuclear arsenal and to place its nuclear facilities under the IAEA full-scale safeguards regime, and it continues urgently to develop its arsenal of nuclear weapons, all types of weapons of mass destruction and the means for their delivery. The Zionist entity is pursuing its aggressive and expansionist policy towards the Arab nation, maintaining its occupation of Arab territory and continuing to use barbaric terrorism and brute force against the Palestinian people. It should be noted that this stance of the Zionist entity, which is contrary to and violates the norms of international law, the United Nations Charter and international customs and conventions, receives support and backing from the United States, a permanent member of the Security Council on which the United Nations Charter confers clearly defined responsibilities to implement United Nations resolutions and maintain international peace and security.

  On the twenty-first anniversary of the Zionist aggression against Iraqi nuclear installations that were dedicated to peaceful purposes, we alert you to the dangers inherent in the possession by the Zionist entity of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction for regional and international peace and security. We call for the implementation of the relevant resolutions of the Security Council, the General Assembly and IAEA and, in particular, of Security Council resolution 487 (1981), in which the Council calls upon Israel to place its nuclear facilities under IAEA safeguards, and paragraph 14 of Security Council resolution 687 (1991), which called for the establishment in the Middle East of “a zone free from weapons of mass destruction”.

  The double standards employed by the Security Council and the failure to implement its resolutions relating to the Zionist entity have emboldened the latter to amass large arsenals of weapons of mass destruction, to pursue its aggressive terrorist policy against the Palestinian people, and to launch attacks against the Arab States, including Iraq. At the same time the Security Council is calling on other States to divest themselves of their conventional defensive weapons which ensure their national security.

(Signed) Naji Sabri
Minister for Foreign Affairs

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