FILE: Senate Palace facade, Tehran, September 22, 2015. Photo: Azadi68 / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0. Cropped and resized; adapted image: CC BY-SA 4.0.
Iran’s Assembly of Experts called Thursday for officials to examine withdrawal from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and review the country’s defense doctrine, describing those steps and stronger deterrence as a public and national demand.
The call, made in the statement as carried here, dated November 12, calls for a change in Iran’s nuclear-policy framework. It is a demand to consider withdrawal, not an announcement that Iran has left the treaty.
Statement seeks withdrawal review
In paragraph four of the statement, the Assembly argued that repeated threats against Iran, particularly its nuclear capabilities, showed that the country could not rely on the international institutions responsible for this area.
Examining withdrawal from the NPT, reviewing defense doctrine and establishing necessary deterrence had become an “inevitable necessity” and a “public and national demand,” the statement said. It urged officials to address the demand under the country’s leadership.
The statement did not announce a withdrawal decision, a date for leaving the treaty or a completed parliamentary vote. The demand should not be read as confirmation that any of those steps has occurred.
Economic and regional demands
The Assembly also proposed a wartime economic headquarters involving different branches of government under the leadership’s oversight. It described threats to the country’s economic lifelines as part of economic warfare.
The statement warned of an immediate response to any renewed attack and called for foreign forces to leave the region. Those positions were presented as the Assembly’s demands, not as an announcement of a new military operation.
JBizNews Desk | Tehran
© JBizNews.com. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution is strictly prohibited.
