Iran: May Use Legal Right to Leave NPT If European States Trigger Return of UN Sanction

By Staff, Agencies

Iran has warned it may exercise its legal right to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty [NPT] if European states proceed with a legally baseless attempt to trigger the return of the United Nations sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

The country’s UN envoy, Amir Saeid Iravani made the remarks in a letter dated Wednesday to the UN Security Council.

The letter came in response to an underway drive by the UK, France, and Germany, known as E3, that is aimed at restoring the sanctions. The campaign has seen the trio forward an anti-Iran resolution to the UN nuclear watchdog alongside the United States to prompt re-imposition of the bans.

The push aligns with the Western allies’ accusations that Iran is seeking to acquire nuclear weapons -- a claim the watchdog has never verified, despite conducting the most rigorous inspections in its history.

Iravani, therefore, denounced the Western campaign as a “legally baseless and politically reckless act, with profoundly destabilizing consequences for regional and international peace and security.”

He reiterated the Islamic Republic’s previous warnings that it would consider “proportionate response,” including by “starting the process of withdrawal from the NPT in accordance with the Article X of the Treaty.”

The article outlines the right for a state party to withdraw from the treaty if "extraordinary events” jeopardizes its supreme interests.

The envoy further denounced as “utterly baseless,” the European trio’s wrongfully accusing Iran of “altering” its defensive doctrine so it could include development of nuclear weapons.

Such drive, he added, reflected “a deliberate attempt to manufacture a crisis.”

“Iran's nuclear policy is unequivocally peaceful, rooted in both legal commitments under the NPT and a deeply held religious and strategic defensive doctrine prohibiting weapons of mass destruction,” the official asserted.

The Islamic Republic is, meanwhile, committed to finding a negotiated solution that provided enough assurances regarding the peaceful nature of its nuclear program, he asserted.