nuclear-news

Slippery slope to nuclear proliferation

 Letter David Lowry:

In your leader “The war that should have been
avoided” (FT View, June 14), you rightly identify the roots of the
present Israel-Iran crisis as the “flawed decision in 2018 [by President
Donald Trump] to withdraw the US unilaterally” from the so-called JCPOA
agreement that corralled Iran’s atomic ambitions.

Iran has been a signatory to the 191-member Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear
Weapons since it was open to signature in 1968. This treaty, applying
international safeguards, controls the nuclear activities of its signatory
states.

Israel, however — which is believed to have as many as 200
nuclear weapons — has always refused to sign the NPT.

Now steps have been
taken in the Iranian parliament to withdraw Iran from membership of the
NPT. Many in power in Iran feel Israel is being rewarded by the
international community for staying outside the NPT regime.

Indeed, the final communiqué of the G7 in Canada on June 17 criticised Iran, which had
been attacked by Israel; while Israel, the G7 asserted, had the right to
defend itself. Iran, which has no nuclear weapons, was warned it cannot
have any. Israel, which has nuclear WMDs, was praised! By taking unilateral
military action against Iran and successfully encouraging the US to do the
same, Israel undermined the credibility of the international community’s
law-based order. This is a very slippery slope.

 FT 2nd July 2025, https://www.ft.com/content/23d01c69-68d4-4217-a184-3ae1b5d272f1

July 4, 2025 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Iran, Israel, politics international