Iran used a seminar in Brussels to announce it would be at the Helsinki meeting.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran now finally has decided to participate at the conference...on a Middle East (nuclear) free zone," Ali Asghar Soltaniyeh, Iran's ambassador to the UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told reporters.
Soltaniyeh said Iran was "determined to participate actively" in the Helsinki conference, which he said could pave the way for a world free of nuclear weapons.
The Middle-Eastern states have repeatedly cautioned that Israel's nuclear arsenal poses a threat to Middle East peace and security.
"We are of the strong belief that all countries should be mobilizing themselves to make sure that this noble goal of a Middle East free from all the weapons of mass destruction will be realized," Soltaniyeh said.
The invitation-only seminar organized by think-tanks that Soltaniyeh attended in Brussels was aimed at promoting efforts to hold the Helsinki meeting.
Israel avoids joining the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Soltaniyeh made clear his country would raise the issue of Israel's nuclear capabilities in Helsinki. "We cannot tolerate the situation...that Israel is outside of the NPT, has a nuclear weapon capability," he said.
mehr/281
Publish Date: 7 November 2012 - 13:59
Iran said on Tuesday it would go to a proposed international conference in December on creating a nuclear-free zone in the Middle East.