Iran sees little point to staying in NPT

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran sees little point in staying in the Non-Proliferation Treaty, a senior official said on Monday.
The comments by Ali Larijani, the influential conservative speaker of parliament, underlined deteriorating relations between Iran and world powers, after a brief diplomatic rapprochement two months ago, seeking a peaceful solution to a long-running standoff over Iran’s disputed nuclear program.
“I believe that their moves are harming the NPT the most ... Now whether you are a member of the NPT or pull out of it has no difference,” Larijani told a news conference, alluding to the global pact banning development of nuclear weapons.
“This decision (new enrichment sites) was the result of the recent (IAEA) resolution, and Iran’s government sent a strong message,” said Ali Akbar Salehi, head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation, quoted by state broadcaster IRIB.
Iran does not want to leave the NPT, Ali Akbar Salehi told Reuters on Monday.
“Our spiritual leader says that to obtain nuclear weapons is a sin - if we wanted to obtain nuclear weapons we would leave the Non-Proliferation Treaty,” Salehi told Reuters through an interpreter. “We do not want to leave the NPT.”
Salehi was speaking after a briefing with Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko who was on a visit to the Bushehr nuclear power plant, which a Russian state company is helping to build.
Top Iranian officials have repeatedly said Iran has no intention of leaving the NPT, under which its nuclear sites are subject to IAEA inspections, or use enrichment to produce fuel for nuclear weapons, which it says violate the tenets of Islam.