Iran sees little point to nuclear curb pact

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Iran sees little point in staying in the Non-Proliferation Treaty, a senior official said on Monday, a day after Iran announced plans to build 10 more nuclear sites in a swipe at growing pressure to rein in atomic activity.

Russia said it was seriously concerned by the proposal for a huge expansion of Iran's atomic programme. Washington has condemned the plans as a "serious violation" of UN Security Council resolutions demanding it suspend uranium enrichment.

The comments by Ali Larijani, the influential conservative speaker of parliament, underlined deteriorating relations between Iran and world powers, after a brief diplomatic rapprochement two months ago, seeking a peaceful solution to a long-running standoff over Iran's disputed nuclear programme.

Last week, the 35-nation governing board of the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), rebuked Iran for building an enrichment plant in secret, triggering Tehran's defiant announcement to erect 10 more such sites.

"I believe that their moves are harming the NPT the most ... Now whether you are a member of the NPT or pull out of it has no difference," Larijani told a news conference, alluding to the global pact banning development of nuclear weapons.

"This decision (new enrichment sites) was the result of the recent (IAEA) resolution, and Iran's government sent a strong message," said Ali Akbar Salehi, head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, quoted by state broadcaster IRIB.

Top Iranian officials have repeatedly said Iran has no intention of leaving the NPT, under which its nuclear sites are subject to IAEA inspections, or use enrichment to produce fuel for nuclear weapons, which it says violate the tenets of Islam.

Analysts also believe Iran would think twice before quitting the NPT since such a move would betray nuclear weapons ambitions and could provoke pre-emptive attack by Israel and possibly the United States.

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