With the deadline of June 30 fast approaching on Iran’s nuclear negotiations with the West, its parliament, reports Agence France Press, has passed a bill that requires President Rowhani “to safeguard the country’s ‘nuclear rights and achievements,’ despite talks with global powers on curbing the Islamic republic’s disputed atomic program.” It also stipulates that the parliament approve a nuclear deal.
Rowhani’s spokesman, Mohammad Bagher Nobakht, said: “This bill contradicts article 176 of the constitution. The issue of negotiations is in the sphere of the Supreme National Security Council… not the government or the parliament.”
Equally as bad
The bill allows inspections of nuclear sites but not military or sensitive non-nuclear establishments — a stipulation likely to alarm Western powers given their longstanding suspicion that Iran seeks to develop an atomic bomb.
Sounds familiar to those of us in the United States, doesn’t it? AFP again:
Obama, a Democrat, has faced persistent opposition to his outreach to Iran from Congress, which is controlled by Republicans, who by their right of review may try to block an agreement.
Still, the Supreme Leader, of course, has the final word in Iran:
The speaker of Iran’s parliament, Ali Larijani, however has said its lawmakers will not stand in the way of any deal that Khamenei, who has the last word on all matters foreign and domestic, says is in Iran’s interests.