Iran's Assembly of Experts Calls NPT Exit and Doctrine Review an 'Unavoidable Necessity'

Eight months into the war with the United States, with Qatari-mediated talks still unresolved, Iran's Assembly of Experts issued a statement Thursday, Nov. 12, calling a review of Iran's membership in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty "an unavoidable necessity" and "a public and national demand."

The Assembly is the clerical body that appoints and oversees the supreme leader. It is the first Iranian governing institution to call for revisiting the country's defense doctrine in this way, according to Iran International.

What the statement says

The Assembly said repeated enemy threats, especially against Iran's nuclear program, show no hope can be placed in the international bodies that handle the issue. It said reviewing the doctrine to create "the necessary deterrence" and addressing the NPT question should happen "under the Leader's guidance."

It did not order a withdrawal. The statement frames the NPT as something to be examined, and it says any final decision rests with the supreme leader.

The Assembly also warned that if Iran's enemies launch another attack, they will face "an immediate, effective response" from Iran's forces "without geographic limits." That language tracks instructions attributed to Mojtaba Khamenei in a Tasnim news agency account published Oct. 31. That account did not announce an order to build nuclear weapons.

The statement also called for a "war economy headquarters" with participation from all branches of government, under the oversight of the Leader's office. It said the enemy is betting on economic war and an attempted air and ground blockade. It added that foreign forces from thousands of kilometers away are the main source of regional insecurity and that their withdrawal is the main solution.

The National Council of Resistance of Iran, an opposition group, says the statement also urged tougher enforcement of compulsory hijab. That detail comes from the opposition group's summary of the statement, not from the Assembly's own text as quoted by Iranian outlets.

Why it carries weight, and why it may not

The Assembly has no direct authority over nuclear policy. Iran International reports that its statement gives institutional backing to demands previously voiced mostly by hardline lawmakers and commentators.

That includes Tehran's interim Friday prayer leader, Mohammad-Javad Haj Ali-Akbari, who called a doctrine revision a national demand on Oct. 30. Lawmaker Ahmad Naderi has openly advocated acquiring an atomic bomb.

The religious dimension matters. Iran has long cited a decree by the late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei against nuclear weapons as the basis for saying its program is peaceful. Iran International reports that clerics backing a rethink could weaken the religious justification for that ban. Hardliners have urged Mojtaba Khamenei to overturn his father's ruling. Others have floated enriching uranium to weapons grade without building a bomb.

The other side inside Iran

Not everyone in Tehran is on board. Iranian diplomat Mohammad Mehdi Shahriari said leaving the NPT during wartime "would effectively mean pursuing a nuclear weapon, something Iran does not intend to do." He added that withdrawal "would only increase costs and further escalate the situation."

Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said earlier this week that Tehran remains committed to the NPT. Security chief Mohsen Rezaei said last month that a doctrine change was under discussion but that neither the government nor the broader establishment had made a new decision.

Reformist figures have challenged claims that nuclear weapons enjoy broad public support. Nour News, a site close to the Supreme National Security Council, warned against letting crowd slogans substitute for expert assessment of nuclear policy.

The Washington backdrop

The statement lands as Iranian hardliners read the Republican midterm losses as a win for Tehran. Mojtaba Khamenei warned Wednesday against "the slightest inclination towards submission," which hardliners took as aimed at Iran's negotiators.

President Trump acknowledged in a Fox News call that the war was partly to blame for the losses. Vice President JD Vance was blunter in an X post Wednesday: "the reason we lost is the war."

Raja News, a hardline outlet, ran a column saying Washington should not get a "way out" before it "pays the price," and that Trump should not "escape with a rushed agreement."

Hamidreza Azizi, a senior Iran analyst at the International Crisis Group, told CNN that Tehran sees the election results as vindication and that its position on a deal is likely to harden. He said Trump declaring "mission accomplished" is unrealistic without nuclear concessions from Iran to offset the domestic backlash. His other option, Azizi said, is a major military operation to end the war from a position of strength.

What comes next

With the Assembly's call on the table, it is unclear whether Mojtaba Khamenei acts on it. No formal withdrawal has been announced, and Iran's diplomats are still shuttling between Tehran and Doha.

A withdrawal notice, or a public ruling reversing Ali Khamenei's decree, would change the negotiating picture overnight. Nothing in the statement commits Tehran to either.