Iran hardliners urge steps toward nuclear treaty withdrawal amid US tensions

Iran's hardline Paydari Front has called on the country's parliament and the Supreme National Security Council to begin the process of withdrawing from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The demand comes as tensions with the United States remain high and as internal divisions deepen over whether Tehran should pursue talks or confrontation. The faction's intervention adds fresh pressure on President Masoud Pezeshkian, who is associated with a more conciliatory approach to negotiations.

According to the supplied report, the Paydari Front said military efforts should proceed "as quickly as possible," language that has been read as a push for a more aggressive nuclear posture. The group's appeal was directed at two of Iran's most important decision-making bodies on security and legislation. It was presented as part of a broader hardline response to the prospect of renewed diplomacy with Washington.

The report places the statement in the context of an ongoing conflict that began on February 28, when the United States and Israel launched a war on Iran on the pretext that Tehran was seeking nuclear weapons. It says the fighting has left the Strait of Hormuz largely closed to shipping and caused major damage to Iranian and Arab infrastructure in missile and air strikes. It also says global energy supplies have been heavily disrupted, underlining the wider economic stakes of the confrontation.

The latest hardline move matters because it touches one of the most sensitive issues in international security: the future of Iran's nuclear commitments. Withdrawal from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty would mark a major escalation in a dispute already shaped by war, sanctions pressure and competing political camps inside Iran. It would also raise questions about how far Tehran is prepared to go in response to US pressure and whether diplomatic channels can still remain open.

The report describes an "existential power struggle" between moderates and centrists on one side, and hardliners on the other. Pezeshkian's camp is said to favour talks with the United States and a swift end to the conflict in order to protect Iran's weakening economy. By contrast, the Paydari Front argues that Washington only responds to force and that the war should continue until the United States accepts Iran's demands.

That domestic split has also been visible in public demonstrations. The report says supporters of the hardline faction have held nightly rallies in major Iranian cities for the past 200 days. What began as expressions of support for the government and opposition to the war has developed into organised political gatherings aimed at blocking efforts to end the conflict through diplomacy.

The slogans reported at these rallies reject compromise and portray negotiations with the United States as betrayal. The same political tension has also surfaced around Pezeshkian's foreign policy messaging. The report says hardline protesters objected to his return to Tehran from the United Nations General Assembly in September, where he condemned the US war while also praising diplomacy.

That reaction suggests the dispute is not only about nuclear policy, but also about who gets to define Iran's response to the conflict and the country's international posture. What remains unclear is whether the Paydari Front's demand will translate into formal action by parliament or the Supreme National Security Council. The report does not say that any withdrawal process has begun, only that the faction has asked for it.

The next developments to watch are whether Iran's institutions respond, whether the hardline pressure changes the government's negotiating stance, and whether the confrontation with Washington intensifies further.

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