Any military attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities may lead to the country withdrawing from the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), a pact designed to prevent the spread of nuclear arms, a senior Iranian official said on Friday.

In case of an attack, “there is a possibility that the (Iranian) parliament forces the government to stop the (U.N. nuclear) agency inspections or even in the worse scenario withdraw from the NPT,” nuclear envoy Ali Asghar Soltanieh said in a statement in English to the U.N. agency’s 35-nation board.

There has been persistent speculation that Israel might attack Iran, which it accuses of seeking a nuclear weapons capability. Iran denies the charge and says Israel’s assumed nuclear arsenal is a threat to regional security.

(Reuters)