No Decision Made Yet on Leaving NPT: Ministry

Date: 10 November 2019 - 22:06

News ID: ۷۲۵۳۸

TEHRAN (Dispatches) -- Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said on Sunday Tehran has not yet decided whether to withdraw from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
His remarks came a day after Iranian Ambassador to London Hamid Baeidinejad said Tehran, which is reducing its obligations under the nuclear deal after U.S. withdrawal from the agreement, could withdraw from the NPT as well.
Mousavi said Iran has developed various scenarios and will act depending on temporary requirements and measures taken by the opposite side. "The Islamic Republic of Iran has made no decision yet on leaving the NPT," he said.
Iran's steps in partially suspending its obligations in response to the United States and Europe are "calculated", the spokesman told reporters during a weekly news briefing here.
Iran signed the NPT – whose aim is to prevent the spread of nuclear arms and weapons technology – in July 1968 and ratified it in February 1970.
It also signed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with major world powers in 2015 and has been honoring its terms according to reports issued by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Since May, however, Iran has been scaling down its commitments in retaliation for Washington's 2018 pullout from the deal and Europe’s failure to protect Iran against American sanctions.
Tehran says its reciprocal measures will be reversible as soon as Europe finds practical ways to shield the Iranian economy from the sanctions.
Mousavi rejected claims by Israeli officials about an alleged nuclear warehouse in Turquzabad in southwest Tehran as well as reports that the IAEA had found radioactive traces there.
Such claims, he said, are aimed at re-opening the so-called possible military dimensions (PMD) file on Iran’s nuclear program.
"The so-called PMD file is closed and the Zionists are trying to re-open it," Mousavi said as he condemned the campaign.
"Re-opening a file that has been closed is not compatible with international laws and regulations. It is a trap designed by the Zionists and we hope that the International Atomic Energy Agency will exercise necessary vigilance in this regard," he added.

Missing FBI Agent

Mousavi said an open case involving an ex-FBI agent who disappeared there in 2007 on an unauthorized CIA mission does not involve criminal charges against him.
The comments came after news said Iran had an open case file involving Robert Levinson.
Mousavi said the case "was just a file about a missing person.” He said the case was opened on "the basis of good will and humanitarian issues.”
The U.S. claims Levinson disappeared from Iran’s Kish Island on March 9, 2007.  In a filing to the United Nations, Iran said the case over Robert Levinson was "ongoing”.
For years, U.S. officials would only say that Levinson was working for a private firm on his trip.
In December 2013, the AP revealed Levinson in fact had been on a mission for CIA analysts who had no authority to run spy operations. Levinson’s family had received a $2.5 million annuity from the CIA in order to stop a lawsuit revealing details of his work, while the agency forced out three veteran analysts and disciplined seven others.
Since his disappearance, the only photos and video of Levinson emerged in 2010 and 2011. He appeared gaunt and bearded with long hair, and was wearing an orange jumpsuit similar to those worn by detainees at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay.
The video, with a Pashtun wedding song popular in Afghanistan playing in the background, showed Levinson complaining of poor health.