Iranian MP favours covert nuclear bomb development, opposes NPT withdrawal

Ahmad Bakhshayesh Ardastani, a member of the Iranian Parliament's National Security Commission, stated on national television that he supports secretly developing a nuclear bomb while remaining a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), according to the Israeli media outlet MigNews.

Asked about the possibility of Iran withdrawing from the NPT, Ardastani said, “I am against leaving the NPT, but we should secretly create a nuclear bomb. We should have built it long ago; I have always supported its creation. We have already paid the price for it.”

His remarks highlight ongoing debates within Iran over its nuclear program and the balance between international obligations and strategic ambitions.

For the record, after the U.S. withdrew from the JCPOA in 2018, Iran resumed uranium enrichment, reaching 60% purity by 2025—close to weapons-grade levels. The IAEA reported in June 2025 that Iran’s stockpile could produce up to nine nuclear bombs, though Iran denies weaponisation intent.

By Khagan Isayev