Iranian lawmakers approve nuclear deal with world powers
TEHRAN, IRAN Iran’s parliament voted Tuesday to support implementing a landmark nuclear deal struck with world powers despite hard-line attempts to derail the bill, suggesting the historic accord will be carried out.
The bill will be reviewed by Iran’s 12-member Guardian Council, a group of senior clerics who could return it to lawmakers for further discussion. However, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on key policies, has said it is up to the 290-seat parliament to approve or reject the deal.
Signalling the nuclear deal’s likely success, a spokesman for moderate President Hassan Rouhani’s administration welcomed the parliament’s vote and called it a “historic decision.”
“Members of parliament made a well-considered decision today showing they have a good understanding of the country’s situation,” Mohammad Bagher Nobakht said. “We hope to see acceleration in progress and development of the country from now on.”
The European Union’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, who helped facilitate the nuclear talks, also praised the vote as “good news” in a message on Twitter.
In the parliamentary session, 161 lawmakers voted for the nuclear deal, 59 voted against it and 13 abstained. Another 17 did not vote at all, while 40 lawmakers did not attend the session.
A preliminary parliamentary vote Sunday saw 139 lawmakers out of the 253 present support the outline of the bill. But despite getting more support Tuesday, hardliners still tried to disrupt the parliament’s session, shouting that Khamenei himself did not support the bill while trying to raise numerous proposals on its details.
“This decision has no link to the leader!” shouted Mahdi Kouchakzadeh, a hard-line lawmaker who rushed toward the front of parliament to yell at speaker Ali Larijani. “It is a decision by Larijani and we oppose it!”
Ali Aghar Zarei, another hardline lawmaker, broke down weeping after the vote.
The bill grants responsibility for implementing the deal to Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, the top security body of the country, which Rouhani heads. It allows Iran to withdraw from the agreement if world powers do not lift sanctions, impose new sanctions or restore previous ones.
The bill also requires the Iranian government to work toward the nuclear disarmament of Israel, which has the region’s sole, if undeclared, nuclear arsenal. The bill also says the government should take “necessary measures” to prevent the U.S. and the West from penetrating the country through the deal, a worry mentioned by Khamenei himself in recent weeks.
The UN Security Council approved the deal on July 20 and the U.S. Congress blocked efforts by Republicans to derail the accord in September. That left Iran to approve the deal, which came after nearly two years of negotiations between it and the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany.