Hassan Ahmadian, assistant professor of political science at the University of Tehran, opined that Iran may consider pulling out of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), under which it commits not to seek nuclear weapons, in the wake of the US attack on Sunday.
“Being in the NPT really doesn’t make sense anymore,” Ahmadian told Al Jazeera.
“A non-NPT member – that is a nuclear state [Israel] – has attacked Iran’s nuclear installations,” he said. Israel is widely acknowledged to have nuclear weapons although it has never publicly admitted it.
“Now an NPT member that is also a nuclear power [the United States] has attacked Iran’s nuclear sites – and there are no signs of any reactions by the IAEA.”
“So the NPT is not doing anything for Iran to protect its facilities from aggression,” Ahmadian said.
“The Iranians might take that into account.”
“They [Iranian officials] are thinking about their options. One of them is exiting the NPT for sure. Nuclear ambiguity is another.”
Asked about NPT earlier today in Istanbul, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran was a “committed member” of the treaty but not that it “had failed to protect” his country and its peaceful nuclear programme.
“Why a country like Iran or other countries who are interested in having peaceful nuclear energy should rely on NPT for their peaceful activities?” he asked.
bd-pratidin/GR
