Iran's Assembly of Experts Says Reviewing Withdrawal From the NPT Has Become an Unavoidable Necessity
Iran's Assembly of Experts said in a statement on November 12 that examining withdrawal from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), revising the country's defense doctrine and building the necessary deterrence had become "an unavoidable necessity" and a public and national demand. The Assembly of Experts is the 88-member clerical body that elects and supervises Iran's Supreme Leader.
According to Iran's Press TV and state broadcaster IRIB, the ten-point statement said repeated threats by the aggressor enemy, especially against Iran's nuclear knowledge, showed there could be no hope in the international bodies responsible for the matter. It asked officials, acting under the guidance of Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, to take up the demand, and warned that any new attack would be answered "without any geographical limitations."
The statement did not itself announce a withdrawal, and the assembly has no power to make that decision. Iran remains a party to the NPT and has sent no withdrawal notice; under Article X, withdrawal requires three months' notice to other parties and the UN Security Council.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said earlier this month that Iran remains a party to the treaty and considers itself bound by it, and Supreme National Security Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei said on October 31 that no new decision had been taken on the defense doctrine. A parliamentary bill to leave the NPT was introduced in March and has not been put to a vote. GSM reported on November 4 that clerics and lawmakers in Iran were already publicly calling for nuclear weapons and NPT withdrawal.
(Source: Assembly of Experts of Iran)
Source: Assembly of Experts of Iran
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
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