Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) signatories have agreed, during a meeting at the UN in New York, that the Middle East must become a nuclear-free region and called on Israel to sign the NPT.

The signatory countries suggested a conference be held in 2012, attended by both Iran and Israel, to move towards the creation of the nuclear weapons free zone in the region.

The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty is widely regarded as the cornerstone of disarmament efforts, but suffers from intense disagreements between members states over how best to accomplish the goal.

The central tensions are between those states armed with nuclear weapons and those that are not.

Iran has repeatedly called for nuclear armed countries to accelerate their disarmament efforts, while nuclear armed countries such as the US, UK and Israel (assumed nuclear armament) have accused Iran of perusing its own armament program.

The final declaration, the result of over a month of negotiations, is 28-pages long and was intensely debated in the lead up to its release.

It calls for Middle Eastern states, under the auspices of the UN, to meet in 2012 to negotiate the creation of a nuclear free zone in the Middle East.

Maged Abedelaziz of Egypt, speaking on behalf of 118 developing nations, said the agreement was “an important step forward towards the realisation of the goals and objectives of the treaty”.

The US, however, has warned that the singling out of Israel may stop the country attending the conference in 2012, which would undermine efforts to create a nuclear free zone in the Middle East.

Israel is widely believed to be the only country in the Middle East with nuclear weapons, though the Israeli government has never acknowledged or denied its nuclear capacity.