Iran should threaten NPT exit, Hormuz closure if US demands continue - Kayhan

Hossein Shariatmadari, the editor of hardline Kayhan newspaper, has called on Tehran to consider withdrawing from the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and threatening to close the Strait of Hormuz if the US persists with what he called extortion tactics.

In a commentary published on Wednesday, Shariatmadari argued that the United States, contrary to its claims, is not seeking an agreement acceptable to the Islamic Republic.

Shariatmadari urged Iranian authorities to explicitly declare that they will not make the slightest change to their nuclear program.

The Kayhan editor also suggested that Iranian officials should assert that if the US seeks to prevent Iran from exporting oil, Tehran will, citing the 1958 Geneva and 1982 Jamaica conventions on international waterways, close the Strait of Hormuz to all oil tankers and even enemy vessels carrying commercial goods and weapons.