Egypt rejects more N-safeguards
Egypt has refused to take on additional obligations for international nuclear safeguards unless Israel joins the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
The Egyptian ambassador to the UN atomic agency said on Tuesday that Israel should place all its nuclear activities under the IAEA’s (International Atomic Energy Agency) full-scope safeguard system.
Ramzi Izz al-Din Ramzi was speaking after IAEA director Muhammad al-Baradai filed a report which found Egypt guilty of repeated failures to report nuclear activities.
But Ramzi downplayed any suggestion that this could be related to secret atomic-weapons development.
Egypt is a signatory to the NPT but not to an additional protocol that allows for wider inspections.
Israel has never publicly acknowledged having a nuclear arsenal but foreign experts say it has used its controversial top-secret Dimona nuclear facility to produce between 100 and 200 nuclear warheads.
Israeli analysts say Tel Aviv can only disarm once peace in the region has been established.
But Arab states say Israel‘s nuclear weapons are a significant threat and puts the country in blatant breach of UN resolutions.