Leaving NPT in Wake of US Sanctions among Iran's Possible Options: FM Zarif
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif warned that leaving the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) is one of Iran’s “numerous” choices in the wake of tightened US sanctions on the Islamic Republic.
“The Islamic Republic’s choices are numerous and the country’s officials are considering them,” Zarif said in a Persian-language interview with IRNA.
The Iranian top diplomat further emphasized that leaving the NPT is one of the choices.
He also pointed to the upcoming UN meetings on the reforms of the international nuclear treaty, saying that the NPT has “three legs” which should move at the same time.
The three legs include peaceful cooperation in the nuclear field, non-proliferation, and security guarantees for non-nuclear countries, by which they should not be threatened, he added
“It is necessary that all of these, especially the third leg move simultaneously,” he noted, adding that the most important guarantee is the nuclear disarmament, which the nuclear countries have never done at all.
Iran signed the NPT in 1968 and its parliament ratified it in February 1970.
Article X of the NPT provides a “right” to withdraw from the treaty if the withdrawing party “decides that extraordinary events, related to the subject matter of this treaty, have jeopardized the supreme interests of its country.”
The White House said on Monday that US President Donald Trump “has decided not to reissue” waivers regarding sanctions against countries importing Iranian oil when the waivers expire “in early May”.
“This decision is intended to bring Iran's oil exports to zero, denying the regime its principal source of revenue,” the statement from White House press secretary Sarah Sanders read.