As war rages, Iranian politicians push for exit from nuclear weapons treaty

While US-Israeli attacks hit key infrastructure, hardliners demand withdrawal from Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Tehran, Iran – Iranian politicians are pushing to exit the country from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) as the United States and Israel ramp up their attacks to hit civilian nuclear sites, steel factories and a university.

It would be meaningless for Iran to remain a signatory to the international treaty as it “has had no benefit for us”, said Ebrahim Rezaei, spokesman for the national security commission of parliament, in a Friday night post on X.

Malek Shariati, a representative from Tehran, said that a priority piece of legislation has been uploaded in an online parliamentary portal and will be reviewed soon.

Politicians have not held any sessions since the start of the war on February 28.

According to Shariati, the legislation will withdraw Iran from the NPT, revoke a law that adopted nuclear restrictions linked with a now-defunct 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, and “support a new international treaty with aligned countries [including Shanghai Cooperation Organization/BRICS] on developing peaceful nuclear technologies”.