Iran backs nuclear treaty even as hardliners raise prospect of bomb

Following US and Israeli attacks on Iran’s main nuclear facilities in and assassinations of senior leaders, Iranian authorities have increasingly discussed the possibility of abandoning the international treaty and building a nuclear bomb. Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei emphasised to reporters during a news conference in Tehran on Monday that the Islamic Republic remains committed to the NPT, despite restricting cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog.

“Other parties have imposed conditions, namely the attacks by the US and Zionist regime against our nuclear facilities which have caused issues concerning implementation of safeguards commitments,” he said, in reference to Israel. “As long as this situation continues, we cannot act like normal circumstances in our cooperation with the agency,” Baghaei said about the IAEA, while also renewing Tehran’s criticism of its director, Rafael Grossi.