The Iranian Parliament has drafted a bill to withdraw from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). This was announced by Ali Nikzad, deputy speaker of the Iranian Parliament.
According to him, the initiative is currently being reviewed, including from the perspective of its international implications. The deputy speaker added that the bill will be brought before the plenary session marked as a matter of urgent importance—lawmakers will be required to consider it on the same day, Fars reports.
Mr. Nikzad recalled that Iran suspended its cooperation with the IAEA last September. He called the international organization’s Director General, Rafael Grossi, a dishonorable person. “He is one of those people who comes, inspects, praises, and then leaves and issues a negative report against us,” Mr. Nikzad said.
The Speaker of Parliament stated that last year’s decision had benefited Iran. “Do we really have any hope at all that the IAEA Director General or those sitting there will assist us in the field of nuclear energy? Of course not,” he said.
The approval of the bill alone would not mean Iran’s immediate withdrawal from the NPT. Article X of the treaty requires three months’ notice to the UN Security Council and all its member states, so there is a separate international procedure between the domestic decision and the termination of participation.
As long as Iran remains a party to the NPT, the treaty serves as the basis for IAEA inspections designed to verify the peaceful nature of its nuclear facilities. In the year leading up to June 2025, 493 inspections were conducted in the country and 125 agency staff members were accredited; withdrawal would alter the treaty basis for such oversight, but does not in itself determine the fate of each individual agreement with the IAEA.
Experts also suggested that a withdrawal could prompt other countries in the region to view the NPT’s restrictions as impractical. In that case, the consequences of the decision would affect not only inspectors’ access to Iranian facilities but also the stability of the regional nonproliferation regime.
