Iranian parliament to government: Suspend nuclear inspections

Iran’s parliament approves bill requiring Iran’s government to suspend nuclear inspections unless sanctions against it are lifted.

Iran’s parliament on Tuesday approved a bill requiring Iran’s government to suspend nuclear inspections unless the sanctions against it are lifted, and ignore other restraints on its nuclear program agreed with major powers, Reuters reported.

However, the government promptly said the move, proposed in response to the assassination of a top nuclear scientist on Friday, could not change Iran’s nuclear policy, which was the province of the Supreme National Security Council.

Lawmakers later passed the full bill, including a provision requiring the government to suspend United Nations nuclear inspections if Western powers which are still part of the 2015 nuclear accords, as well as China and Russia, do no re-establish Iran’s access to world banking and oil markets within a month.

In response, government spokesman Ali Rabiei told reporters was quoted as having told reporters, “The government believes that, under the constitution, the nuclear accord and the nuclear program… are under the jurisdiction of the Supreme National Security Council… and parliament cannot deal with this by itself.”

The bill also calls for Iran to enrich uranium “for peaceful uses” to 20% purity in breach of the 2015 nuclear accord, noted Reuters.

Iran has gradually scaled back its compliance with the 2015 deal in response to US President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the agreement in May of 2018.

US President-elect Joe Biden has indicated he would return to the nuclear deal with Iran, and a close aide to him said recently that rejoining the Iran nuclear deal was high on Biden’s agenda.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a recent report that Iran has fired up advanced uranium-enriching centrifuges that it had installed at its Natanz site in breach of the 2015 deal.

An IAEA released prior to that found that Iran continues to increase its stockpile of low-enriched uranium far beyond the limits set in the deal.