US-India nuclear deal violates NPT

6 October 2008

Tehran-Deputy head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization Mohammad Saeedi on Sunday expressed concern about the US-India nuclear deal saying the deal has violated the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Talking to IRNA, he said the countries which are not members of the NPT cannot make use of the privileges of the treaty.

The method used by several nuclear states to transfer the technology to non-members of the NPT, will create new crises for the international community, he added.

According to the NPT, only signatories to the treaty can make use of the rights mentioned in the treaty, Saeedi noted.

Cooperation in the area of transfer of nuclear technology to the NPT non-members will endanger the treaty, he said, adding that although India is enjoying nuclear weapons it is not a signatory to the NPT treaty.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in India Saturday to showcase a historic bilateral nuclear deal, but last-minute hitches raised doubts that the pact would be signed on her trip.

A signing delay would be another bump in a three-year rollercoaster for an agreement aimed at lifting a ban on US-Indian civilian nuclear trade imposed after India's first nuclear test in 1974.

Both houses of the US Congress voted in favor of the landmark nuclear deal this week, but President George W. Bush has yet to sign it into law.

The deal offers India access to sophisticated US technology and cheap atomic energy in return for New Delhi allowing UN inspections of some of its civilian nuclear facilities.

Military nuclear sites will remain closed to international inspections.

Critics say it undermines global efforts to curb the spread of nuclear weapons, because India has refused to sign the NPT.