nuclear-news

Iran warns on leaving Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty, if attacked

Iran may quit anti-nuclear arms pact if attacked: envoy By Fredrik Dahl
VIENNA | Fri Nov 30, 2012   (Reuters) – Any attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities may lead to it
withdrawing from the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), a pact aimed at
preventing the spread of nuclear arms, a senior Iranian official said on Friday.

Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran’s ambassador to the International Atomic
Energy Agency, also suggested Iran in such a case could kick out IAEA
inspectors and install its uranium enrichment centrifuges in “more secure” places.

His comments may strengthen concerns among many Western nuclear
experts that military action against Iran aimed at preventing it from
developing nuclear weapons may backfire and only drive its entire
nuclear program underground.
Iran may quit anti-nuclear arms pact if attacked: envoy By Fredrik Dahl
VIENNA | Fri Nov 30, 2012 10:31am EST
(Reuters) – Any attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities may lead to it
withdrawing from the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), a pact aimed at
preventing the spread of nuclear arms, a senior Iranian official said on Friday.

Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran’s ambassador to the International Atomic
Energy Agency, also suggested Iran in such a case could kick out IAEA
inspectors and install its uranium enrichment centrifuges in “more secure” places.

His comments may strengthen concerns among many Western nuclear
experts that military action against Iran aimed at preventing it from
developing nuclear weapons may backfire and only drive its entire nuclear program underground.

There has been persistent speculation that Israel might bomb Iran,
which it accuses of seeking a nuclear weapons capability. Iran denies
the charge and says Israel’s assumed atomic arsenal is a threat to
regional security.

If attacked, “there is a possibility that the (Iranian) parliament
forces the government to stop the (U.N. nuclear) agency inspections or
even in the worse scenario withdraw from the NPT,” Soltanieh said in a
statement in English submitted to a meeting of the IAEA’s 35-nation
Board of Governors…..
Like nuclear-armed India and Pakistan, Israel has never signed the
NPT. It neither confirms nor denies having nuclear arms, although
non-proliferation and security analysts believe it has several hundred
nuclear weapons….
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/30/us-nuclear-iran-npt-idUSBRE8AT0JL20121130

December 1, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Iran