Iran warns of quitting NPT if US scrapped nuclear deal

As US President Donald Trump was preparing to host his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron over the first state dinner in his presidency on Tuesday, April 24, a senior official in Iran said Tehran might quit the crucial Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) if Trump scuttled the nuclear accord that Iran signed with a number of world powers in 2015, Reuters reported.

Trump has expressed his deep reservations over the Iranian deal which was reached during the days of Barack Obama, saying it had "terrible flaws" and warned that if the European allies did not fix it by May 12, he would restore American sanctions on Iran, delivering a blow to the deal.

The other powers that are party to the deal, like France, Great Britain, Germany and Russia along with China were in favour of the deal that curbed Iran's nuclear programme in lieu of lifting most international sanctions that were imposed over it.

In a news conference shown on the state television, Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said the country's Atomic Energy Organisation was ready to take "surprising actions" if the nuclear deal was cancelled, Reuters added.

He also said withdrawing from the NPT was among the options that Iran was considering.

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani, who recently warned that Iran would come up with expected and also unexpected reactions if the US quit the deal, also aired a warning on Tuesday saying the US would face "severe consequences" if it left the nuclear deal.