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Iranian parliament sets conditions for return to Nuclear deal
The statement comes in the midst of final steps to revive a 2015 nuclear agreement in Vienna, which could lead to an agreement “very soon”, according to a senior EU official.
Iran’s parliament has laid out six conditions for Tehran to rejoin the 2015 nuclear deal with global powers in a letter to President Ebrahim Raisi published on Sunday, the country’s official IRNA news agency reported.
The letter, signed by 250 out of 290 parliamentarians, stated that US and European parties should guarantee that they would not exit a revived agreement, nor trigger the “snapback mechanism” under which sanctions on Iran would be immediately reinstated if it violates nuclear compliance.
“We have to learn a lesson from past experiences and put a red line on the national interest by not committing to any agreement without obtaining necessary guarantees first,” lawmakers said in the letter.
The statement comes in the midst of final steps to revive a 2015 nuclear agreement in Vienna, which could lead to an agreement “very soon”, according to a senior EU official.
Such conditions from parliament at a crucial time risk restricting Iranian negotiators’ room for manoeuvre in Vienna and endanger a final agreement.
Iran’s parliament also made it a condition that a return to the deal should only go ahead if all sanctions were lifted, including those pertaining to terrorism, missile technology and human rights.
In addition, lawmakers first want to confirm that Iran receives money from its exports, before the government returns to nuclear compliance, the statement added.
Meanwhile, Israeli PM Naftali Bennett said on Sunday that Iran may “shortly” agree a new deal but warned it will be weaker than the original 2015 agreement.
“The emerging new deal is shorter and weaker than the previous one,” Bennett told a meeting of his Cabinet.
He said the deal would see Iran rein in its nuclear activity for two and a half years, rather than the 10 years under the collapsed previous deal, granting Iran sanctions relief for only a brief slowdown of its nuclear activity.
After that, he said, Iran could develop and install “stadiums of centrifuges”.
