Such attacks could pose a danger to people all over the globe, the Belarusian leader has said
The US and Israel have brazenly violated a host of international agreements by striking Iranian nuclear facilities, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has said. He warned that consequences of such actions could have been catastrophic.
Israel launched strikes on Iran’s nuclear and military infrastructure on June 13, a day after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) passed a resolution declaring Iran to be in breach of its Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) obligations – something that Tehran has denied. Last week, the US carried out airstrikes targeting three Iranian nuclear facilities as well.
“The recent strikes on the Iranian nuclear facilities under the control of the IAEA are violating the norms of the international law in the most dangerous way,” the Belarusian leader told a summit of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) on Friday.
Minsk is particularly aware of the potential consequences of such actions, the president said, citing the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, which caused vast territories to be contaminated with radioactive materials thrown into the atmosphere following an explosion at a Soviet nuclear power plant.
“Radioactive fallout was registered even in the UK, Germany and Sweden at the time,” Lukashenko noted. The US and Israel apparently believe they would be spared the same fate for some reason.
The president also expressed his support to Iran and its people, wishing them to “overcome all the difficulties” caused by the attacks. “I want you to know that you are not alone in your resistance.”
His words came a day after Moscow said that Washington’s and West Jerusalem’s actions dealt “colossal damage” to the IAEA and put its very credibility in question. An agency responsible for the global verification system for various nation’s nuclear activities was used “as a source of information for planning the bombing,” the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at the time.
The attacks posed “real obstacles” to implementing agreements between the IAEA and Tehran, she warned. The Iranian Parliament has voted to suspend cooperation with the IAEA until Iran is given security guarantees for its nuclear facilities.
