Tehran considering leaving NPT, says Iran's envoy won't leave Beirut

Iran’s parliament is reviewing a possible exit from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei says, while insisting Tehran has not and will not seek nuclear weapons. Iranian lawmakers had also raised the possibility of leaving the NPT, which recognizes the right to develop, research, produce, and use nuclear energy as long as nuclear weapons are not pursued, after the 12-day war last June when Israel and the US struck Iranian nuclear facilities. “What is the benefit of joining a treaty in which bullying parties at the international level not only do not allow us to benefit from its rights but also attack our nuclear facilities?” Baghaei says, adding that Tehran would respect the treaty as long as it is a member. It would be meaningless for Iran to remain a signatory to the international treaty as it “has had no benefit for us”, said Ebrahim Rezaei, spokesman for the national security commission of parliament.
Baghaei also said that Iran's ambassador to Lebanon would remain in Beirut despite a Lebanese order to leave. “Considering the discussions raised by the relevant Lebanese parties and the conclusions reached, the Iranian ambassador will continue his work as ambassador in Beirut and is still present there,” he said. His remarks came days after Lebanon’s Foreign Ministry withdrew accreditation for ambassador-designate Mohammad Reza Sheibani, declared him persona non grata and asked him to leave by March 29, saying he had violated diplomatic convention by making statements about Lebanon’s internal politics.Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on Monday that the deadline had expired and that the Iranian ambassador was “sipping his coffee in Beirut, mocking the host ‘country’.” He added that “Lebanon is a virtual state that is, in practice, occupied by Iran.”