Iranian parliament to study withdrawal from NPT

Parliamentary sources revealed on Saturday that Iran's legislature is due to discuss the country's withdrawal from the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director-general released a biased report against Iran. Vice-Chairman of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Mohammad Kowsari told FNA on Saturday that his commission would "study Iran's withdrawal from the NPT" after a relevant demand by a major political faction of the Iranian university students. His remarks alluded to a relevant demand raised earlier today by the Iranian students' Office for Consolidating Unity (Daftar-e Tahkim-e Vahdat), asking the Iranian officials to review the country's membership in the IAEA. Kowsari underlined the "unreal" nature of the IAEA report on Iran which has been issued under the pressures of the US and Israel, and said the UN nuclear watchdog should not be turned into a place for the US false claims and allegations against other countries as it will impair the Agency's dignity and credibility. IAEA Director-General Yukiya Amano released a US-dictated report on Iran earlier this week, in a move seen by many, even in the West, as part of Washington and Israel's efforts to find a new pretext for intensifying pressure on Tehran. The western diplomats and sources had informed around a month ago that the new report would contain allegations on the basis of some copied documents which have been presented to the IAEA by certain western countries to show that Iran is pursuing a military drive in its nuclear program. Once the report was released, not only Iran, but also many world states, including Russia, China and the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) member states, strongly rejected it and blasted the UN nuclear watchdog chief for acting as a White House proxy. Iran also said that it would not budge "an iota" from its peaceful atomic activities. Israel and its close ally the United States accuse Iran of seeking a nuclear weapon, while they have never presented any corroborative document to substantiate their allegations. Both Washington and Tel Aviv possess advanced weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear warheads. Iran vehemently denies the charges, insisting that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only. Tehran stresses that the country has always pursued a civilian path to provide power to the growing number of Iranian population, whose fossil fuel would eventually run dry.