CAIRO, June 17. /TASS/. Foreign ministers of 20 Arab and Islamic countries urged to make Middle East a zone free of nuclear weapons in a joint statement, published by the Foreign Ministry of Egypt.
"[The ministers affirmed] The urgent necessity of establishing a Middle East Zone Free of Nuclear Weapons and Other Weapons of Mass Destruction, which shall apply to all States in the region without exception," the document reads.
They called upon all countries in the region that have not yet signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to join it.
Against the backdrop of "unprecedented escalation of tensions in the Middle East," the ministers urged to refrain "from targeting nuclear facilities that are under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards."
In their words, such acts constitute a violation of international law and international humanitarian law, including the 1949 Geneva Conventions.
Overnight into June 13, Israel launched Operation Rising Lion targeting Iran’s nuclear program. Iran responded in less than 24 hours. In the following days, Tel Aviv and Tehran exchanged strikes again. Both parties reported casualties and damage, and admitted that a number of facilities had been hit, but said the damage was limited.