Kremlin says US dealt 'huge blow' to nuclear non-proliferation regime

ISTANBUL

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday said recent US strikes targeting Iran’s nuclear sites have severely undermined the global nuclear non-proliferation regime, warning that the international community must now confront questions about the future of the so-called “nuclear club.”

“There is a nuclear non-proliferation regime. De jure it exists, de facto it was dealt a huge blow by these strikes that took place on Iranian territory,” Peskov told journalists. “And then it is a question for the international community, what is the future (of the nuclear club).”

On Sunday, US President Donald Trump said American forces bombed Iran’s Fordo, Natanz, and Isfahan nuclear sites.

The attacks marked a sharp escalation in the Israeli military campaign against Iranian nuclear and military facilities that continues since June 13, prompting retaliatory Iranian missile strikes.

Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has also said that the ongoing conflict in Iran risks collapsing the nuclear nonproliferation regime.

The international nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament regime comprises rules and practices regulating nuclear weapons. It is built on the 1968 Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).

The NPT seeks to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, promote peaceful uses of nuclear energy and to move towards nuclear disarmament.

On President Vladimir Putin's meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Moscow, Peskov said: “Various issues were discussed, primarily in the context of possible prospects for a peaceful outcome. The parties to the conflict have completely different positions on this matter.”

Asked whether Iran requested anything from Moscow beyond humanitarian aid, Peskov declined to comment directly, only saying “the situation is still very tense.”