Article 4 of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
(which Iran has signed, like every country in the world except India,
Pakistan, Israel, and South Sudan), states: “Nothing in this Treaty
shall be interpreted as affecting the inalienable right of all the
Parties to the Treaty to develop research, production, and use of
nuclear energy for peaceful purposes without discrimination.”
This was the essential selling-point of the treaty: that in exchange
for foregoing nuclear weapons, a country would be granted “the
inalienable right” to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. In
fact, Article 5 requires the big five countries—those which already had
nuclear weapons at the time of its drafting in 1969 (the United States,
Great Britain, France, Russia, and China: the same P5 countries
negotiating with Iran)—to provide nuclear materials, at a low price, to
any country that signs the treaty.