India, Pak. nukes legitimate: Bolton

thehindu/ap: Nuclear powers India and Pakistan attained that status in a "legitimate" fashion because neither country signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, US Ambassador John Bolton has said.

By contrast, Iran, under international scrutiny for what some see as its drive to obtain nuclear weapons, has no right to do so as it signed the NPT in 1970, Bolton said yesterday.

"In the context of the NPT, India and Pakistan had never signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty and therefore they weren't in violation of it by having nuclear programmes, in contrast with Iran that is a state party to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and that's violating its obligations," Bolton said.

At present, 187 nations have signed the NPT - which first opened for signatures in 1968. The treaty allows for five states - the United States, Britain, China, Russia and France - to possess nuclear weapons.

Bolton had on Wednesday referred to Iran's "nuclear weapons programme" when making the case for the council to examine the subject.

"This is a test of the Security Council," Bolton said. "If the Iranians insist, as they have for years now, that they want an indigenous uranium enrichment capability, that's something we can't accept."

Iranian officials have been in Moscow this week, negotiating Russia's offer to enrich uranium for Iran to be used for energy, with the spent fuel being returned to Russia, easing fears that Iran could use it for weapons. Link

db: Nice logic. Stay outside the NPT and get tooled up legitimatly.