Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Shirin Lotfi - More than 150 regional and international participants attended the Amman Security Colloquium, held on Nov 13th and 14th.

During the two day meeting, organized by the Arab Institute of Security Studies, panelist and experts of Weapons of Mass Destruction(WMD), nuclear Non-proliferation discussed nuclear security and the possibility of a Nuclear Weapon Free Zone (NWFZ) in the Middle East.

Panelist included Ambassador Grace Asirwatham, deputy director general of Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), Ambassador Andreas Reinicke from the European Union, and Coralie Hindawi from American University in Beirut. Panelist discussed various topics such as non proliferation, disarmament, transparency, and delivery vehicles of WMD and nuclear weapons.

Iranian panelist, Ali Mohammadi from Global Health and Security in Iran, explained Iran’s current nuclear situation and emphasized that the Iranian nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only. In one statement Mohammadi said “Why would Iran have any interest in obtaining nuclear and chemical weapons when Iran itself has been one of the biggest victims of chemical weapons in the history since WWII”.

During the Iran-Iraq war over 100,000 Iranians were killed from chemical and biological weapons. The second day was held at the Le Royal hotel with hostess Peter Rickwood, reporter and founder of Atomic Reporters.

This session gave an overview of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and OPCW’s activities and progress on destroying the WMD in the Middle East, especially in Syria.

Panelist for the second session included Tariq Rauf, Principle of Global Nuclear Solutions and former head of verification and security policy coordination at the IAEA, and Ambassador Mohammad Shaker from Egypt. Participants had a heated debate on the verification and inspections of the IAEA.

Mr. Rauf discussed Israel’s and Iran’s position within the region and presented his speech on the obstacles and opportunities of establishing a NWFZ in the Middle East.