TEHRAN — A total of 130 Iranian lawmakers have signed a statement calling on parliament to initiate the legal process for the country’s withdrawal from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), arguing that international mechanisms have failed to protect Iran’s rights, security and peaceful nuclear infrastructure.

Meysam Zohourian, a lawmaker from Mashhad and a member of parliament’s Economic Commission, said on Monday that the statement calls for reconsidering Iran’s NPT membership in light of recent developments and the ineffectiveness of international mechanisms in safeguarding the country’s rights and security.

The lawmakers went beyond calling for a review of Iran’s membership, urging the presiding board of the Islamic Consultative Assembly to activate the legal process for complete withdrawal from the treaty “in the shortest possible time.” They also called for expanded scientific, technical and legal cooperation with countries they regard as like-minded.

“The NPT is based on the reciprocal balance of ‘commitment to non-proliferation’ and ‘guaranteeing the rights and security of members,’” the lawmakers said, arguing that recent developments had demonstrated the failure of that balance.

They cited “structural discrimination” and the inability of international institutions to secure even Iran’s minimum legal rights under the treaty. Their position, they said, was rooted in their responsibility to safeguard national security and vital interests, as well as the achievements of the late Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, and Iranian nuclear scientists.

Lawmakers cite attacks on nuclear facilities

The statement identified four principal reasons for the proposed withdrawal: the failure of international mechanisms to protect Iran’s nuclear facilities; attacks and sabotage targeting nuclear infrastructure and the assassination of nuclear scientists; Iran’s alleged deprivation of the benefits guaranteed under the NPT; and the misuse of International Atomic Energy Agency inspections for espionage and political pressure.

The lawmakers argued that peaceful nuclear facilities operating under international safeguards should receive the highest level of protection against military threats and attacks.

They said direct attacks and organized sabotage against Iranian nuclear infrastructure, the two recent wars imposed on Iran, the killing of nuclear scientists and repeated threats by US and Israeli officials had demonstrated the limitations of existing international safeguards.

“Accepting maximum supervision has brought not the slightest security for the Iranian nation and has only become a tool for identifying and targeting the country’s power components,” they said.

The lawmakers also argued that Iran had not received the benefits envisaged under Article IV of the NPT, despite extensive compliance with its obligations and unprecedented international monitoring. Article IV recognizes the “inalienable right” of NPT parties to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes and calls for cooperation in that field without discrimination.

Iran invokes NPT withdrawal provision

The lawmakers further criticized the IAEA, saying its inspections had been turned from a mechanism for nuclear verification into a means of political pressure and industrial-security espionage. They cited the recent referral of Iran’s nuclear issue to the UN Security Council as an example.

The IAEA Board of Governors recently adopted a resolution concerning Iran’s safeguards obligations, a move Tehran condemned as politically motivated. Iranian officials have warned that continued pressure could strengthen calls for withdrawal from the NPT.

The lawmakers invoked Article X of the treaty, which allows a state to withdraw if it determines that extraordinary events related to the treaty have jeopardized its supreme national interests. The provision requires a withdrawing state to give three months’ notice to other NPT parties and the UN Security Council.

They argued that continuing threats and attacks against Iran’s territory and facilities, coupled with the failure of international guarantees, constituted such an extraordinary situation.

The parliamentary initiative comes amid increasingly forceful calls from Iranian officials to reconsider the country’s nuclear policy. Abbas Goudarzi, spokesman for parliament’s presiding board, said on Sunday that Iran could withdraw from the NPT and reconsider its nuclear doctrine, arguing that Washington responds primarily to “the language of force and the logic of power.”

The lawmakers said Iran’s “security, authority and dignity” were non-negotiable and called for a new framework of international scientific, technical and legal cooperation following any withdrawal.