Panafrican News Agency

Ramaphosa condemns US withdrawal from Iran nuclear pact

Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) – President Cyril Ramaphosa has expressed “deep concern” over Washington’s decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal.

This after President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced that his country would withdraw from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action between China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States and Iran.

“As a matter of principle, and deeply rooted in its foreign policy, South Africa supports multilateral diplomacy and the peaceful resolution of conflict,” he said.

He said the agreement provides “a framework of confidence under which the Islamic Republic of Iran can pursue the development of its nuclear capabilities for civilian purposes”.

He added that the South African government urges the other countries to continue honouring their commitments under the agreement.

PANA reports that South Africa is the only country in history to voluntarily dismantle a nuclear weapons progreaame.

Six nuclear weapons were assembled by the apartheid-era government.

Before the first democratic elctions in 1994, the South African government dismantled all of its nuclear weapons. The country has been a signatory of the Biological Weapons Convention since 1975, the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons since 1991, and the Chemical Weapons Convention since 1995.
-0- PANA CU/MA 10May2017