Factbox-What is the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty?

Sept 9 (Reuters) - Western powers have submitted a proposed resolution to the ‌U.N. nuclear watchdog's 35-nation Board ​of Governors that ​would report Iran to the U.N. Security Council for the first time in 20 years for breaching its obligations under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Diplomats at the International Atomic Energy Agency say the text proposed by the United States, Britain, France and Germany is almost certain to pass, with a vote expected later on Wednesday ‌or on Thursday.

Below are some key facts about the treaty.

PURPOSE OF THE NPT

The objective of the treaty, which took effect in 1970, is to ⁠halt the spread of nuclear weapons-making capability, guarantee the right of all members to develop nuclear energy for peaceful ends and for the original five nuclear-weapons powers to take steps towards phasing out their arsenals.

The treaty defines nuclear-armed states ‌as those that “manufactured and exploded a nuclear weapon or ‌other nuclear device prior to January 1, 1967. They are the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia, which assumed rights and obligations from the former Soviet Union. Those five nations are the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council.

SIGNATORIES

A total of 191 countries are party to the NPT. Nuclear-weapons states agree not to transfer those weapons or to help ​non-nuclear states obtain them.

NON-SIGNATORIES

Two non-signatories, India and Pakistan, developed nuclear weapons. Another, Israel, is widely assumed to have a nuclear arsenal but has not confirmed or denied it publicly.

North Korea signed the treaty in 1985 but announced its withdrawal in 2003. After a rapprochement, North Korea expelled IAEA inspectors again in 2009, and they have not returned since. It has tested several ⁠nuclear weapons.

ESCAPE CLAUSE

The treaty is divided into 11 articles, including one that enables a state to withdraw “"if it decides that extraordinary events ... have jeopardized the supreme interests of its country". A state must give three months' notice to other treaty members ​and the U.N. Security Council.

IRAN

Iran has been a non-nuclear-weapon signatory to the NPT since 1970. It has a uranium enrichment programme that it says is for peaceful purposes, but Western powers and Israel suspect it intends to develop the means to make atomic bombs.

The International Atomic Energy Agency's ​35-nation Board of Governors passed a resolution on June 12 of last year declaring Iran in breach ‌of its non-proliferation obligations for the first time in almost 20 years.

Actually reporting Iran to the Security Council for that breach is a separate step requiring a second resolution.

The June 2025 resolution cited Tehran's "many failures to uphold its obligations since 2019 to provide the Agency with full and timely cooperation ⁠regarding undeclared nuclear material and activities at multiple undeclared locations in Iran".

ISSUES OF CONCERN

Israel and the United States bombed Iranian nuclear facilities in June of last year, badly damaging or destroying Iranian uranium-enrichment plants. Iran has not let the IAEA return to those sites or accounted for its stocks of enriched uranium, some of which is close to weapons grade, since then.

In its latest report on Iran to member states last week, ⁠seen by Reuters, the IAEA said "it is critical for the Agency to conduct verification activities in Iran without further delay in accordance with the NPT Safeguards Agreement".

Last year's resolution declaring Iran in breach of its safeguards ​obligations under the NPT, which was passed the day before Israel launched its attacks, was to do with a separate issue, however.

The issue of concern there was Iran's failure to provide credible explanations of how uranium traces detected atundeclared sites came to be there despite the agencyhaving investigated for years. They largely concerned activities carried out more than 20 years ago.

Iran says it has always adhered to its safeguards obligations. It has ‌criticised IAEA findings as politically motivated and lacking technical or legal foundation.

Iran has often responded to previous IAEA board resolutions against it by escalating its nuclear activities or scaling back cooperation with the IAEA, though there is limited scope for that now since no inspections were carried ‌out in the past three months and many of its nuclear facilities are badly damaged.

NUCLEAR SANCTIONS

Sanctions were imposed on Iran in 2006 after it failed to comply with a U.N. Security Council resolution demanding a halt ⁠to its uranium enrichment programme.

Iran agreed to restrain its nuclear programme, while still ‌enriching to a low level, in return for relief from ​economic sanctions under a deal reached with six major powers in 2015, but President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the agreement in 2018, reimposing U.S. sanctions.

Iran subsequently retaliated by ramping up its nuclear programme, abandoning the restrictions imposed by the deal.

(Compiled by Reuters, Editing by Timothy Heritage, Francois ‌Murphy and Alex Richardson)

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