Iranian envoy calls UN arms trade treaty as 'politically motivated'

Iran's Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Gholam Hossein Dehqani described UN's treaty to regulate the multibillion-dollar international arms trade as "politically motivated".The Iranian envoy made the remarks at the UN General Assembly meeting in New York on Tuesday.Dehqani stressed that that despite the Islamic Republic's efforts to resolve various legal flaws in the draft treaty within the framework of constructive negotiations, its preparation was "politically motivated."He noted that the new treaty grants every right to major arms exporters while ignoring the right to purchase arms by countries in need of weapons for defending their territorial sovereignty.Dehqani said that the transfer of arms to the Middle East and the Persian Gulf region has gravely affected the security and welfare of the people of the region.In similar remarks last week, Iran's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Mohammad Khazayee said that the UN arms treaty contains "legal shortcomings"."The achievement of such a treaty has been rendered out of reach due to many legal flaws and loopholes," Khazayee said, addressing the UN Arms Trade Treaty.He noted that the final draft of the treaty was prepared despite Iran's efforts to address these flaws in a serious and constructive manner."One of those flaws was the treaty's failure to ban sales of weapons to groups that commit acts of aggression," Khazayee said.He asked how the human suffering can be reduced while turning a blind eye to aggression that costs the lives of hundreds of thousands of people?Some 2,000 representatives of governments, international and regional organizations and civil societies had gathered at the UN headquarters in New York City to hammer out the details of the agreement, which was seen as the most important initiative ever about regulation of conventional arms within the UN.According to the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs, violence kills more than half a million people each year, including 66,000 women and girls. In addition, about 800 humanitarian workers were killed and nearly 700 injured in armed attacks across the world between 2000 and 2010.