Iranian lawmakers demand withdrawal from nuclear treaty as Trump says war will be wrapped up soon

Several Iranian lawmakers have called for the country to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), while United States President Donald Trump says the war on Iran will be wrapped up soon. The demands came as Qatari mediators returned to Tehran this week to mediate peace talks with the US.

Before the US and Israel’s war on Iran began on February 28, Washington and Tehran had already been engaging in indirect nuclear negotiations mediated by Oman. Iran had also stated on numerous occasions that it had no plans to develop nuclear weapons. Trump has repeatedly stated that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, making it a non-negotiable condition for ending the ongoing conflict and securing a permanent deal.

Iran, however, has set conditions before it will talk again about its nuclear programme, including an end to the US naval blockade of its ports in and around the Strait of Hormuz, the lifting of sanctions and a guarantee there will be no more attacks.

The war, now entering its ninth month, has upended global energy and financial markets with the closure of Hormuz. On Friday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi hit back at German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who had said the war on Iran has added more than 100 billion euros ($112bn) to Europe’s energy costs.

In a post on X, Araghchi noted that Merz had hailed the US and Israel’s attacks on Iran in June of last year, when he said this is the dirty work Israel is doing for all of us. Araghchi then warned that any renewed attacks could come at a far higher cost for Europe, writing that 100 billion euros is nothing compared to the earth-shattering blow Iran’s powerful armed forces will deal against those who dare harm its people, and adding that red lines are a thing of the past.

The withdrawal call grew louder on Saturday, when Iranian legislator Mahmoud Nabavian called on X for Iran to withdraw from the NPT and change its nuclear doctrine. He wrote that now that Iran has paid the heavy costs of war and sanctions, it is time for the Iranian nation to withdraw from the treaty and change the doctrine.

In parliament, Ebrahim Rezaei, a member of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said 10 proposals to withdraw from the treaty had been registered and withdrawal was under consideration, according to the Fars news agency. Mohammad Javad Haj Ali Akbari, an Iranian politician and scholar, also called for a review of Iran’s nuclear doctrine, describing it as a national demand during his sermon on Friday, state broadcaster IRIB reported. He said the demand was not a hasty or emotional reaction, but reflected Iranians’ awareness of what he described as US failures to honour commitments.

Separately, in a report earlier this week, Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported calls for Iran to withdraw from the NPT and accused the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of becoming politically aligned with the US and Israel. Last month, an IAEA resolution expressed grave concerns about Iran’s continued noncompliance with its obligations under the NPT, to which it is a signatory.

But the IAEA has not had access to key nuclear facilities in Iran since the US and Israel launched a 12-day war against the country in June 2025, which included attacks on key Iranian nuclear sites such as Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan. Iran has condemned the IAEA resolution, calling it baseless and politically motivated.

The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons is a landmark international treaty aimed at preventing the spread of nuclear weapons and promoting peaceful uses of nuclear energy. It was opened for signature on July 1, 1968, and entered into force on March 5, 1970, after negotiation by the US, the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom. A total of 191 countries are now part of the treaty; non-signatories include India, Pakistan, Israel and South Sudan. Among its 11 articles, one allows a country to withdraw with three months’ notice if it decides that extraordinary events have jeopardised its supreme interests. Iran signed the NPT in July 1968 and ratified it in February 1970 as a non-nuclear-weapon state, and has since stated consistently that its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes and research only.

Iranian leaders have not yet responded to the demands from lawmakers to withdraw. On October 24, according to Iranian media reports, the Paydari Front, a hardline faction aligned with conservative groups, also called on parliament to withdraw from the NPT.

Withdrawal from the NPT would not automatically mean that Iran would build a nuclear weapon. Officially, the Iranian government’s position on not seeking nuclear arms remains unchanged. President Masoud Pezeshkian has said Tehran’s policies align with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s longstanding religious edict against weapons of mass destruction. In June, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said lawmakers were preparing a bill to withdraw Tehran from the NPT, adding that the government has to enforce parliament bills, but such a proposal was just being prepared and would be coordinated with parliament in later stages.

Trump, in a speech at Daytona Beach, Florida, late on Friday, brought up Iran several times and repeated claims about destroying its navy and air force, saying the US would never give them a nuclear weapon. He also denied that the US had started the war, saying Iran has been waging war on America since 1979. Separately, in an interview with Kansas City radio station KCMO on Friday, he said the war is going to get wrapped up soon, but Washington needs a guarantee there will never be a nuclear weapon.

Mohamed Elmenshawy, a Washington-based analyst, told Al Jazeera that Trump wants to end the standoff with Iran whether through peace or war as quickly as possible, and may launch new attacks after the November 3 midterm elections. He said what breaks this state of no peace, no war is either progress in the negotiating track or attacks beginning anew. Elmenshawy said Trump believes time is on his side, pointing to strict economic pressure on Iran, including the US naval blockade that has curtailed Tehran’s ability to export oil, sanctions on Iranian aviation and land border closures by several other countries. Trump faces pressure from the Israeli side to launch attacks, and opposite pressure from the Arab Gulf side to push the negotiating track, he added.

On Saturday, the spokesperson for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Mohammad Akraminia, sent a warning to Trump on X, writing that its armed forces are closely monitoring America’s movements in the region. Akraminia said that if the US president resorts to another adventure in the region along with Israel, Iran will retaliate significantly, and the flames of war will engulf a much wider area.