Iranian Lawmakers Divided Over Cooperation With IAEA

Iran International Newsroom
A number of new generation Iranian centrifuges are seen on display during Iran's National Nuclear Energy Day in Tehran, Iran April 10, 2021.
A number of new generation Iranian centrifuges are seen on display during Iran's National Nuclear Energy Day in Tehran, Iran April 10, 2021.

After the UN nuclear watchdog signaled its unhappiness with what it said was slow progress in its dealings with Iran, some in Tehran have questioned all cooperation. 

Iranian lawmaker Ali Khezrian said Sunday that parts of a recent agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) are contrary to the "strategic action" law ratified by the parliament in December 2020. 

Khezrian is an influential lawmaker belonging to the hardline Paydari group dominating the Iranian parliament.

He was referring to the bill passed by the parliament, dominated by hardliners, in December 2020, dubbed the ‘Strategic Action To Eliminate Sanctions and Defend Iranian Nation's Interests.’ 

The bill authorized higher-level uranium enrichment to force the United States to lift economic sanctions imposed in 2018, when former President Donald Trump withdrew from the JCPOA nuclear agreement. 

Iranian lawmaker Ali Khezrian
Iranian lawmaker Ali Khezrian

The bill also mandated restrictions on nuclear monitoring by the IAEA. Since the passage of the law, Iran has further restricted international monitoring and inspections, adding to the complicated dynamics of renewing the JCPOA. 

The bill’s stipulation about higher levels of uranium enrichment was not an empty negotiating tactic. Iran actually began enrichment at 20 percent in early 2021, breaking the JCPOA limit of 3.65 percent. Subsequently, enrichment was increased to 60 percent during talks with West to revive the JCPOA. Tehran now has enough fissile material for at least two nuclear bombs, and it also gradually restricted IAEA monitoring access to its nuclear facilities, introducing another complicating factor into the JCPOA talks. 

Khezrian, who is the spokesman of the parliament’s Article 90 Committee, made the remarks as he was talking about a recent meeting of the Committee and the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Mohammad Eslami and his deputies.  

The committee is supposed to deal with complaints against the President, Parliament or the Judiciary.

Khezrian said that after Eslami briefed the committee on the agreement reached with the IAEA in March, the lawmakers were unanimous that it violates the "strategic action" law as well as the orders of the Supreme Leader. 

He said that re-installing IAEA monitoring systems at Esfahan (Isfahan) nuclear site was beyond the Safeguards Agreement and based on the additional protocol to the IAEA-Iran agreement, which cover basic requirements of cooperation with the IAEA under the NPT. He added that two EMDs (Environmental Monitoring Devices) were also installed at Natanz and Fordow nuclear sites to oversee the enrichment lines, calling them even beyond the JCPOA. 

According to Khezrian, “the EMDs were installed without obtaining legal permits from the relevant authorities, which is not only against the law approved by the parliament, but also beyond the JCPOA obligations, because in the JCPOA, the OLEM (the On-Line Enrichment Monitor) device is mentioned for measuring the level of enrichment, so it should be clarified what are the differences between these two devices.” 

Earlier in June, Iran said it reinstalled 10 cameras of the UN nuclear watchdog in one of its installations that were removed last year when the UN watchdog’s board of governors in June 2022 censured Tehran for its lack of cooperation with the agency. 

IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi speaks at a news conference about developments related to the IAEA's monitoring and verification work in Iran, in Vienna, Austria June 9, 2022.
IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi speaks at a news conference about developments related to the IAEA's monitoring and verification work in Iran, in Vienna, Austria June 9, 2022.

Following his criticism, several lawmakers close to the administration of President Ebrahim Raisi – and members of parliament’s national security and foreign policy committee -- rejected Khezrian’s claims, emphasizing that the recent measures are in line with the law. 

MP Shahriar Heidari said that the ‘strategic action law’ had been written and approved with the aim of canceling sanctions, adding, “If the other side accepts the lifting of sanctions, cooperation between Iran and the IAEA is bound to increase according to the clauses of the Law.” 

Echoing similar views, lawmakers Fada-Hossein Maleki and Yaghoub Rezazadeh said that the measures adopted by the country’s nuclear agency are “completely in line with the law of strategic action.” 

All these remarks were made a few days after IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi expressed concerns about Iran's nuclear program and the regime’s sluggish cooperation with the agency. "Iran's continuing enrichment activities, it's raising concerns,” he said. 

The recent movements in the Iranian political landscape seem to be a reaction to reports that European diplomats have informed Tehran they plan to retain EU ballistic missile sanctions set to expire in October under the defunct 2015 Iran nuclear deal. 

According to a report published by the Guardian on Sunday, the UK and other European powers are expected soon to announce plans to breach the 2015 Iran nuclear deal for the first time. The justification cited by EU and British diplomats included Iran’s own breach of the accord.