Iran not in breach of international law, says British MP

Iran's successful enrichment of uranium for nuclear fuel this week was a breakthrough in its civil program and does not constitute a violation of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), said British MP Jeremy Corbyn.

"Iran's announcement is not a breach of international law or regulation. Whatever our views of nuclear energy, Iran is allowed to be in the nuclear club as a signatory to the nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty," the anti-war Labour MP said.

"It voluntarily halted its uranium enrichment plans to negotiate additional protocols to the NPT. But when negotiations landed them before the Security Council, Iran overturned its voluntary ban and resumed enrichment," he said Thursday.

Corbyn, who is vice-chair of the all-party parliamentary Human Rights Group, expressed caution toward all rhetoric directed against Iran in a joint letter to the Guardian newspaper, with the support of the chairs of two peace groups.

"Saying Iran is a step closer to a nuclear bomb is akin to saying that Britain will invade France due to the breakdown in negotiations over the CAP (the EU's Common Agriculture Policy)," he said in his letter co-signed by Kate Hudson of CND and Roudabeh Shafie of Action Iran.

"Inherently, the technologies of nuclear energy and nuclear weapons are similar but not necessarily a stepping stone, as nuclear activities can be monitored to ensure they remain peaceful -- the aim of Mohammed ElBaradei's current visit," they said.

Their letter said that "Iran's breakthrough was in its civil nuclear program" and warned that "failure to differentiate paves the way for another illegitimate war in the Middle East." "We support the need for atomic energy to be monitored; however, monitoring can only take place in an environment where the IAEA is empowered to do its work rather than be hijacked by political agendas," it said.

Their joint letter also warned that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was "further weakened by hypocrisy, as it fails to get adequate backing to bring in line other countries who actually have nuclear weapons." They pointed out that Israel, India, and Pakistan, all of which have illegally developed nuclear arsenals, had refused to join the NPT and "yet remain unreprimanded by the international community."