Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the Review Conference of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty
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United Nations in New York, NY, May 3, 2010
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently appeared at the United Nations’ Review Conference of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, NY.
She delivered prepared remarks to the assembly of conference delegates and answered questions from reporters following her remarks. Clinton used her appearance to increase the pressure on Iran over its nuclear weapons ambitions and to call out its leadership for flagrantly disobeying the NPT, to which it is a signatory.
Clinton’s appearance followed an announcement from Ambassador Susan Rice, the United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations, that the UN Security Council will be considering a new round of sanctions against Iran. Additionally, the Untied States Congress has begun its mark-up process to reconcile the respective Iran sanctions legislation passed by both the House of Representatives and the Senate.
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On Iran’s Nuclear Ambitions
”[Iran] has cynically claimed to be abiding by the treaty while violating its safeguards, expanding its enrichment program, failing to cooperate with the IAEA, and ignoring the injunctions of the Security Council.
”... [A]s the Secretary General said, in this regard the onus [to meet NPT responsibilities] is on Iran. So far, it has failed to meet its burden. Iran is the only country represented in this hall that has been found by the IAEA Board of Governors to be currently in noncompliance with its nuclear safeguards obligations - the only one. It has defied the UN Security Council and the IAEA, and placed the future of the nonproliferation regime in jeopardy. And that is why it is facing increasing isolation and pressure from the international community.”
- Secretary Clinton, Prepared Remarks
On Iran’s Attempts to Distract Attention from its Nuclear Weapons Program
“This morning, Iran’s president offered the same tired, false, and sometimes wild accusations against the United States and other parties at this conference. But that’s not surprising. As you all heard this morning, Iran will do whatever it can to divert attention away from its own record and to attempt to evade accountability.”
- Secretary Clinton, Prepared Remarks
“It appears that Iran’s president came here today with no intention of improving the NPT. He came to distract attention from his own government’s failure to live up to its international obligations, to evade accountability for defying the international community, and to undermine our shared commitment to strengthening the treaty. But he will not succeed.”
- Secretary Clinton, Press Availability
On the Global Effort to Isolate Iran
”[Iran] has defied the UN Security Council and the IAEA, and placed the future of the nonproliferation regime in jeopardy. And that is why it is facing increasing isolation and pressure from the international community.
”... Iran will not succeed in its efforts to divert and divide ... Now is the time to build consensus, not to block it.”
- Secretary Clinton, Prepared Remarks
”... Iran is the only nation that is attending this conference that has violated consistently the treaty obligations it signed up to follow, that has defied the international community, that has acted with impunity when held to account by the IAEA and the Security Council.
And we think there will be a very significant - a supermajority of countries that will want to move forward with a reaffirmation of the NPT, all three pillars. And if Iran wants to be further isolated, it will stand outside that consensus. But I hope that we can reach consensus. I hope that we can reach agreement in the Security Council on tough new sanctions, because I believe that is the only way to get the attention of Iran’s leadership and to move toward a thorough and careful assessment of its nuclear program, and to make clear that the international community will not stand idly by while countries violate their obligations.”
- Secretary Clinton, Press Availability
On the Timing of Creating a Middle East Free of Nuclear Weapons
“I announced we will seek U.S. Senate ratification for our participation in existing nuclear-weapons-free-zone agreements among the nations of Africa and the South Pacific, and I reaffirmed our longstanding policy to support efforts to realize a weapons of mass destruction-free zone in the Middle East in accordance with the 1995 Middle East Resolution. Now, given the lack of a comprehensive regional peace and concerns about some countries’ compliance with NPT safeguards, the conditions for such a zone do not yet exist. But we are prepared to support practical measures for moving toward that objective.”
- Secretary Clinton, Press Availability
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