Iran weighs leaving Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty after US, Israeli actions

Alaeddin Boroujerdi, a member of Iran’s parliament committee on national security and foreign policy, said Tehran’s participation in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) “no longer makes sense” following aggression by the United States and Israel, adding that most parliament members share this view.

He stated that there was no reason to accept such restrictions under the NPT and emphasised that they were not seeking to build an atomic bomb, according to Iranian media.

He added that it was impossible to follow the rules while being attacked, and the time had come to leave the NPT.

Iran began developing its nuclear program in the 1950s under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi with US support. In 1958, the country joined the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and signed the NPT in 1968, ratifying it in 1970. 

Following the overthrow of the Shah in 1979, the program was suspended and resumed only in the late 1980s. Since 2003, a fatwa issued by former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has prohibited the development of nuclear weapons.

By Jeyhun Aghazada