As tensions with Washington rise, Iran says its considering leaving nuclear weapons treaty

In response to tightening United States-engineered sanctions, Iran said on Sunday it could leave a treaty against the spread of nuclear weapons.

"The Islamic Republic's choices are numerous, and the country's authorities are considering them," Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said, Reuters reports. He listed leaving the Non-Proliferation Treaty, an international agreement meant to halt the the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology, as one of those options. However, Iran has threatened to leave the treaty in the past.

Iran has been a party to the treaty since 1970, but tensions between Tehran and Washington have risen steadily since the Trump administration withdrew last year from a separate international nuclear deal with Iran agreed upon in 2015. The White House has also recently announced it will increase sanctions on Iran and designated the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organization, though Iran's armed forces chief of staff reportedly said the IRGC has not observed any change in the U.S. military's behavior toward the force. Read more at Reuters.

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