Iranian parliament to discuss pulling out of NPT, lawmaker says

Iranian lawmaker Ismail Kowsari says the country’s parliament will discuss withdrawing from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty after sanctions were reimposed following the collapse of the 2015 nuclear treaty.

“Parliament will discuss this issue… and decide on it,” he tells the Young Journalists Club, which is affiliated with Iranian state television.

Asked if Iran’s withdrawal from the treaty would mean moving toward building a nuclear bomb, Kowsari says: “No, it does not mean that. This issue will be reviewed separately later, and we can have it on the agenda if necessary.”

Parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf says countries who honor the UN sanctions will face “serious reciprocal action” as parliament begins meeting.

“We announce that if any country wants to take action against Iran based on these illegal resolutions, it will face serious reciprocal action from Iran, and the three European countries that are the initiators of this illegal action will also face our reaction,” Qalibaf says without elaborating, according to a report by the state-run IRNA news agency.