Iran on sunday that it could quit a treaty against the spread of nuclear weapons after the United States tightens sanctions, while an Iranian general said the US Navy was interacting as before with an elite military unit blacklisted by Washington.
Tensions between Tehran and Washington have risen since the Trump administration withdrew last year from a 2015 international nuclear deal with Iran and began ratcheting up sanctions.
Earlier this month, the United States blacklisted Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) and demanded buyers of Iranian oil stop purchases by May or face sanctions.
“The Islamic Republic’s choices are numerous, and the country’s authorities are considering them. And leaving NPT (nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty) is one of them,” state broadcaster IRIB’s website quoted Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif as saying.
Iran has threatened in the past to leave the NPT, as US President Donald Trump moved to scrap the 2015 deal with world powers — the US, Russia, China, Germany, Britain, and France.
