Salimi, a member of Parliament’s board, said lawmakers would consider the possibility of leaving the NPT while stressing that Iran would not abandon uranium enrichment.
Iran’s Parliament will consider a possible withdrawal from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), while Tehran remains committed to uranium enrichment, Iranian lawmaker Alireza Salimi said on Sunday, according to Iran International.
Salimi, a member of Parliament’s board, said lawmakers would consider the possibility of leaving the NPT while stressing that Iran would not abandon uranium enrichment. He said Parliament already has a law covering 60% enrichment and would not set it aside.
The remarks come amid heightened tensions over Iran’s nuclear programme and its confrontation with the United States and Israel. Calls for Tehran to leave the NPT have intensified in recent weeks, although the proposal has yet to become a formal parliamentary decision.
Salimi also said Iran would not abandon plans to avenge the killing of former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, while threatening retaliation against US and Israeli leaders.
The prospect of an NPT withdrawal would mark a significant escalation in Iran’s nuclear standoff with the West. However, leaving the treaty would not in itself mean that Iran had decided to build a nuclear weapon.
The United States and Israel have said their military campaign against Iran is aimed in part at preventing Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons — a goal Iran has long denied pursuing. The conflict has since increasingly centred on the strategic Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has kept closed to shipping while negotiations with Washington remain deadlocked.
The war began with US and Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28. US forces last launched a major barrage against Iranian targets on September 1, when Washington said it struck Iranian air-defence sites, radar systems, maritime assets, mine-laying capabilities and communications facilities.
