NAM, China urge global disarmament, dismantlement of WMDs

China and the members of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in a joint statement demanded total disarmament and elimination of the Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs) worldwide.The statement was read at the 3rd conference to review the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) in the Hague, the Netherlands, by Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Mohammad Mehdi Akhoundzadeh.Iran currently holds the rotating three-year leadership of the 118-member NAM, commonly a platform for anti-Western grievances against the developed world.NAM and China in their joint statement stressed that the WMDs pose a grave danger to the world, and urged their full-scale and complete disarmament and elimination.They also supported the approval of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) proposed by Iran to establish an international network to support the victims of chemical weapons.The CWC is a major international arms control agreement that outlaws the production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons by its signatories. The agreement is administered by the OPCW.Iran is one of the 41 members of the OPCW Executive Council and has always stressed the urgent need for the dismantlement of the WMDs, including chemical weapons, as it has been a victim of such weapons.Tens of thousands of Iranians were killed and wounded by chemical weapons during the Iraqi imposed war on Iran (1980-1988).