TEHRAN, 20 September 2003 — A top Iranian religious leader said yesterday that the Islamic Republic should consider leaving the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, amid international pressure over its nuclear program. “What harm would it do to get out of the NPT, to reconsider it?” Ayatollah Ahmad Janati, an influential leading conservative, told worshipers at Friday prayers at Tehran University.
“North Korea got out, many countries did not enter it, if we had not entered it would have been better, but we are free to reconsider, why shouldn’t we reconsider?” Janati said in his sermon broadcast on state radio. Iran, suspected by the United States in particular of seeking to develop nuclear weapons, is under pressure to sign an additional protocol to the treaty allowing for snap inspections of suspect sites by international monitors.
“We should in no way accept the additional protocol which bears extra humiliation for us,” added Janati, one of the most senior officials in the Islamic republic to suggest pulling out of the NPT altogether.
A week ago, the International Atomic Energy Agency gave Iran until Oct. 31 to clear up widespread suspicions that it is using an atomic energy program as a cover for nuclear weapons development.
The resolution, passed by the IAEA’s board of governors after intensive US lobbying, demands Iran answer all the IAEA’s questions regarding its enrichment activities, provide unrestricted access to UN inspectors and a detailed list of its nuclear-related imports.
Iran denies the charges against it and both conservative and reformist camps have angrily rejected the resolution, but they remain divided on whether to continue cooperation with the nuclear watchdog.
A number of hardliners have openly called for Iran to follow the path of North Korea. Janati said that allowing tougher inspections was out of the question. “If we sign the additional protocol, they can inspect anywhere they want. One day it could be the Majlis (parliament), and the next day the office of the supreme leader (Ayatollah Ali Khamenei),” said Janati, head of the Guardians Council, a powerful conservative-dominated legislative watchdog.
“Iranians will stand firm against the criminal and conspiring United States and will not accept this humiliation,” he said, to the habitual chant of “Death to America, Death to Israel” from the crowd of worshipers. Janati’s position on the additional protocol is crucial, as for it to be ratified and implemented it would need to pass through the Guardians Council, even if it makes it through the reformist-held parliament.
