New York, Muharram 17, 1440, Sep 27, 2018, SPA -- The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has stressed the importance of efforts to achieve the goals of the elimination of nuclear weapons, which began by recognizing the international community as a whole the need to adopt the existing treaties and legal and ethical frameworks aimed at achieving a nuclear-weapon-free world, particularly in the Middle East region. cannot be achieved by means of cooperation and consultation among States, the pursuit of development and progress, and the avoidance of the race to possess this destructive This came in the Kingdom's speech before the High-level Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly on the occasion of the International Day against Nuclear Tests in New York and delivered by the Kingdom's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Abdullah bin Yahiya Al-Maalami. He further said, on this day where we celebrate the International Day against complete elimination of nuclear weapons, which represents an important event that reaffirms the desire and commitment of the international community to rid themselves of these deadly and inhumane weapons because of their grave dangers to humans and the environment. It is clear to everyone that nuclear reactors pose a threat even if they are used for peaceful purposes, especially if these reactors lack nuclear safety and security standards. Therefore, my country expresses its concern about the Iranian Bushehr reactor, located no more than 200 kilometers from the coast of the Arabian Gulf, especially it is located at an active seismic line, causing any radiation leakage will expose the region to a serious danger to the air and desalination plants and food. He also confirmed that the kingdom calls on the international community, the United Nations and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to determinedly urge Iran to comply with international law and the standards of nuclear safety, pointing out that the Kingdom also urges IAEA to issue a periodic report under the auspices of the United Nations monitoring the countries' readiness to cope with possible disasters of any leakage in nuclear reactors and ways of dealing with them so as not to repeat the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. --More 23:29 LOCAL TIME 20:29 GMT 0042 www.spa.gov.sa/w757149