US strikes give Iran legal right to exit nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, says Iranian lawmaker

With the United States struck three key nuclear facilities in Iran on Saturday night, the latter's Parliament Foreign Policy Committee Head Abbas Golroo on Sunday cited Article 10 and said Iran has the legal right to withdraw from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) .

According to the details, Article 10 states that an NPT member has “the right to withdraw from the Treaty if it decides that extraordinary events have jeopardized the supreme interests of its country.”

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi in a social media post said, "Iran reserves all options to defend its sovereignty, interest and people".

What is NPT?

Aimed at preventing the spread of nuclear weapons and promoting peaceful uses of nuclear energy, the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons is a landmark international treaty.

It was first opened for signature on 1 July 1968 and entered into force on 5 March 1970. The NPT was negotiated by the US, Soviet Union and Britain.

According to the NPT, all the nuclear-weapon states agreed they would not transfer nuclear weapons or assist non-nuclear-weapon states in developing them. While the non-nuclear-weapon nations agreed not to seek or acquire nuclear weapons.

Under the NPT, those countries which manufactured and exploded a nuclear weapon or other nuclear device before 1 January 1967, were considered as nuclear-weapon nations. These include US, Britain, France, China and Russia.

Apart from this, the NPT supports the right of all signatories to access nuclear technology for peaceful purposes under safeguards overseen by the United Nations nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

However, under Article 10 of the NPT, any country has the right to withdraw with three months' notice if any extraordinary events have jeopardized its supreme interests.

"Each Party shall in exercising its national sovereignty have the right to withdraw from the Treaty if it decides that extraordinary events, related to the subject matter of this Treaty, have jeopardized the supreme interests of its country. It shall give notice of such withdrawal to all other parties to the Treaty and to the United Nations Security Council three months in advance. Such notice shall include a statement of the extraordinary events it regards as having jeopardized its supreme interests," the NPT statement says.

With agency inputs.