The possibility of Iran’s withdrawal from the Nuclear Non‑Proliferation Treaty (NPT) is under discussion in Tehran, Iranian media reported on Saturday, Anadolu reports.
Relevant government bodies, including parliament, are currently “urgently” mulling withdrawal, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim News Agency reported.
On the US social media company X, Tehran Deputy Malek Shariati said an “emergency plan to support the nuclear rights” of Iran has three main areas. These include a declaration of withdrawal from the NPT, the cancellation of the countermeasure law in implementing the 2014 Iran nuclear deal, and support for a new international agreement with like-minded countries for the development of peaceful nuclear technologies, including Shanghai and the BRICS bloc of Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, and others.
The possibility of withdrawal comes with the entire region on alert since the US and Israel launched an air offensive on Iran on Feb. 28, since killing over 1,340 people, including then-Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Though analysts say the US has not been clear in its objectives in the war, Washington has long objected to Iran enriching nuclear material to weapons-grade.
Iran responded to the offensive with drone and missile attacks targeting Israel, as well as Jordan, Iraq, and Gulf countries hosting US military bases, causing casualties, infrastructure damage, and disruption to global markets and aviation.
It will be better for IRAN
The treaty itself was like “Nukes for me, not for thee” from the US. I vehemently oppose nuclear warfare, and I also vehemently oppose this sort of gatekeeping. If you accept that nukes are bad, why not say we won’t have nuclear weapons anymore, and ask the rest of the world to surrender it too? What is this “countries that made nuclear weapons before this arbitrary year are ok (mainly the west, btw), but no other country should have them”?
Iran’s “nuclear program” has been about energy production so far, and the constant imperialist fearmongering about “breakout time” has always sought to instead conflate it with a nuclear weapons program.
Hopefully Iran can soon be on equal footing with occupied Palestine.