Iran Passes Law To Suspend Inspections Of Its Nuclear Program | International

The Iranian Guardian Council passed a law on Wednesday that obliges the government to suspend inspections of its nuclear facilities by UN inspectors and accelerate uranium enrichment beyond the limits set by the agreement signed between Tehran and six. major powers (United States, France, United Kingdom, Germany, China and Russia) in 2015 if sanctions are not lifted within two months. In response to last week’s assassination of the father of his nuclear program, scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, of whom Iran accuses Israel, the hard-liners dominated parliament within the regime passed a bill on Tuesday. heard by an overwhelming majority, which will make a nuclear deal difficult.

The mission of the Guardian Council is the final approval of regulations that do not contradict the principles of Islamic law or the country’s Constitution. However, the position of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on state matters, is currently unknown. “In a letter today, the parliament spokesman officially asked the president to implement the new law,” the semi-official agency Fars reported Wednesday. Under that new law, Tehran would give signatories to the agreement two months to normalize banking relations and remove barriers to Iranian oil exports imposed after Washington abandoned the pact in 2018.

In response to the policy of “maximum pressure” imposed by US President Donald Trump against the Iranian regime, which provided for the re-imposition of sanctions, the country has progressively reduced its commitment to the pact. The decision by Iranian lawmakers will complicate the return to the nuclear deal of US President-elect Joe Biden, who will take office on January 20 and who has always been in favor of a much more conciliatory policy towards Iran. Biden said Washington will return to the pact and lift sanctions if Tehran returns to “strict compliance with the agreement”.

“There is now more pressure on the government of (President) Hasan Rohaní to ensure the return of the United States to the JCPOA (the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the nuclear pact, in its acronym in English),” tweeted Ariane Tabatabai, researcher for the Middle East at the think tank German Marshall Fund and Columbia University.

Rohani, the Iranian architect of the 2015 pact, called the parliament’s decision “harmful to diplomatic efforts” in view of lifting the sanctions. One of the articles states that 120 kilograms of 20% enriched uranium must be produced and stored each year, well above the 3.67% purity allowed by the nuclear pact. According to the project, the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization (OEAI) will also have to produce 500 kilograms of low-level enriched uranium every month, according to the project.

This plan also includes the launch of a uranium metal production plant in Isfahan, the restoration of the Arak heavy water reactor and the design of another 40 MW heavy water reactor. The project also includes uranium enrichment activities with at least 1,000 IR-2M advanced centrifuges at the Natanz plant within three months of ratification of the law. The nuclear deal signed by Iran allows only the use of first generation centrifuges.