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Ayatollah Calls for End to NPT

(London Sunday Telegraph/Washington Times) - Iranian Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, a hard-liner who heads the Guardian Council, the most powerful governing body, said his country should consider withdrawing from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, raising fresh fears that Iran will ignore an international deadline to curb its nuclear ambitions. On Friday Jannati said Iran should defy demands for tougher nuclear inspections. "What is wrong with considering this treaty on nuclear energy and pulling out of it?" he asked. "North Korea withdrew." It emerged last week that Britain, France, and Germany had secretly offered to share nuclear technology with Iran if it accepted tougher nuclear inspections and scrapped its uranium enrichment program, despite strong U.S. objections. On Friday Moscow said its nuclear cooperation talks with Iran, intended to clear the way for shipments of Russian nuclear fuel to the plant, could take a long time to finalize - a signal welcomed by Washington.
2003-09-22 00:00:00
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