US calls for India, others to sign NPT

The United States called for the signing of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT) by India, Israel, North Korea and Pakistan.

"Universal adherence to the NPT itself, including by India, Israel, Pakistan and North Korea...remains a fundamental objective of the United States," US assistant secretary of state Rose Gottemoeller said in her statement at an NPT conference on Tuesday.

The two-week meet, which opened on Monday, is a preparation meeting for the 2010 review session.

The statement is expected to draw New Delhi's wrath as India had made it clear that it abides by non-proliferation in principle but will not sign the treaty because the treaty discriminates between nuclear weapon states and non-nuclear weapon states.

The Obama administration has maintained all along that it wants to strengthen the NPT framework.

Former US ambassador to India Robert Blackwill said on Tuesday, "It's not clear to me how they regard India's nuclear weapons - as a destabilising factor in South Asia; as a fact of life to grudgingly tolerate or as a natural development from a close democratic collaborator and rising great power."

"I would say that with regard to India's agreement with the US on peaceful nuclear uses that the US has been able to agree with India to undertake a number of activities that would bring it in closure cooperation with other countries in the general non-proliferation regime," Gottemoeller said.

He also read out a message of US president Barack Obama on Washington's commitment to the NPT framework.

''We must strengthen the NPT to deal effectively with the threat of nuclear weapons and nuclear terrorism,'' Obama said in the message.

"To seek the peace and security of a world free of nuclear weapons, in Prague, I committed the United States to take a number of initial steps in this direction," the president said, referring to his speech on nonproliferation in the Czech capital on Sunday.

Obama, in an open-air speech, said that if the nuclear threat from Iran were eliminated, this would remove the driving force for building anti-missile defences.

Several participants to the meet called for inclusiveness, particularly the return of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to the fold, and the increased cooperation of Iran with the UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

However, Iranian deputy foreign minister Mohammad Ali Hosseini blasted Washington's ''double standards'' on certain countries in ''implementing this treaty.''

He was referring to the continued existence of huge nuclear arsenal in the US, the UK and France.
"The international community has serious concerns regarding the United States, the United Kingdom and France's policies and actions," he said.

Iran also complains that India, Israel and Pakistan are not recognised as nuclear weapons states under the treaty.

Gottemoeller's statement raised fears in Jerusalem that the new US administration may sacrifice Israel's nuclear ambition to stop Iran developing nuclear weapons.

Under a 40-year-old understanding reportedly achieved between then Israeli prime minister Golda Meir and then US president Richard Nixon, Washington has refrained from pressuring Israel to sign the NPT.

Israel have in the past said they would be willing to sign the NPT but only after all Middle Eastern nations, including Iran, have acknowledged Israel's right to exist and signed peace treaties.

The 1968 NPT treaty entered into force in 1970 and was extended indefinitely in 1995. The treaty was signed by 189 countries.

Under the treaty, only five nations are allowed to hold nuclear weapons - the US, Russia, Britain, France and China. All other signatories are obliged not to develop nuclear weapons.

Out of the non-signatories, India, Pakistan and North Korea have tested nuclear devices. Israel has not but is reported to have up to 200 nuclear warheads.