Politicians mull Iran’s nuclear settlement

Special parliamentary committee will review landmark agreement and hear any opposition views from hardliners

TEHRAN // Iranian politicians yesterday set up a special committee to review the landmark nuclear deal reached with world powers last week, after the country’s foreign minister presented parliament with a copy of the agreement. The development came a day after the United Nations security council unanimously endorsed the deal, which reins in Iran’s nuclear programme and authorises measures aimed at ending the United Nations sanctions imposed on Iran.

Under the Islamic republic’s constitution, parliament has a right to reject any deal – even one negotiated by the foreign ministry – but it is unlikely that politicians will act against it following its endorsement by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who headed the Iranian negotiating team during the talks in Vienna, first submitted the text to the house yesterday.

Hours later, the official Irna news agency reported the formation of a 15-member special committee to review the deal.

The committee is apparently a way to provide politicians – especially hardliners who had vehemently opposed the deal from the start, while remaining mostly silent about it since last week – with an opportunity to discuss various points and air their opinions.

In a speech in parliament that was broadcast on state radio, Mr Zarif hailed the security council resolution as “unique” and said that he expected it to be “the last resolution about Iran’s nuclear issue” – a reference to numerous past UN measures that imposed tough sanctions on Tehran.

It remained unclear whether the Iranian committee will formalise a statement at the end of its review, and whether politicians will vote on that – or on the deal in general.

The security council also approved a provision that would automatically reinstate the harsh measures if Tehran reneged on its promises given in Vienna.

Mr Zarif, apparently trying to defuse concerns by hardliners over snapback sanctions, said that such a move would exact a “heavy price” on the other side as well.

“If for any reason, security council sanctions are reimposed, Iran will not be obliged to abide by its commitments” under the nuclear deal, he said, adding that it was not in either side’s interest to go back to the pre-deal situation.

Under the agreement, Iran’s nuclear programme will be curbed for a decade in exchange for potentially hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of relief from international sanctions.

Many key penalties on the Iranian economy, such as those related to the energy and financial sectors, could be lifted by the end of the year.

One prominent Iranian official who has spoken against the deal is the head of the powerful Revolutionary Guard, General Mohammad Ali Jafari, who said last week that his force had “some concerns” about the draft.

Those points, he said on Saturday, “are clearly in contradiction and violation of important red lines of Iran, especially regarding arms capabilities”.

“They will never be acceptable to us,” Mr Jafari was quoted as saying, without elaborating.

The United States and its western allies believe that Tehran’s goal is to build atomic weapons, but Iran insists its nuclear programme is purely peaceful, aimed at producing nuclear energy and medical isotopes.

Mr Zarif said yesterday that the UN resolution also opened the way for Iran to commercially trade its uranium.

Under the deal, Tehran has to dismantle two-thirds of its already installed centrifuges for enriching uranium and get rid of 98 per cent of its uranium stockpile.