A splat between Iran’s parliament (Majles) and the government of President Hassan Rouhani over the future of the nuclear program was resolved on Wednesday afternoon when the parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf (Qalibaf) sent to Rouhani an amended version of a bill restricting cooperation with United Nations inspectors and expanding uranium enrichment.

The bill is seen by some analysts abroad as a pre-planned ruse to put Iran in a stronger position to revive its 2005 nuclear deal with world powers. Ali Shirazi, an Iran expert, told Iran International TV on Wednesday that he believes the main aim of the bill is to put pressure on Europe. Iranian negotiators could scare foreign counterparts into believing that if they failed to agree with “moderates” led by Rouhani, they would have to deal with a tougher government after Iran’s presidential elections in June.

The sham was clear when Guardian Council, a constitutional watchdog required to endorse Majles legislation, sent back the draft bill in under a day, far quicker than the council usually spends assessing Majles legislation, which regularly takes around two weeks before any bill is returned with or without suggested corrections.

Sometimes important bills go back and forth for months without approval. One example is a bundle of four legislative packages designed to meet conditions set by the intergovernmental Financial Action Task Force (FATF) for Iran’s accession. After three years of haggling between parliament and Guardian Council, two of the bills are in limbo, with the FATF blacklisting Iran earlier this year. While Rouhani supports FATF accession as part of extending international trade, many principlists oppose it as an assault on sovereignty.

But the Guardian Council changed just one of the nine articles of the draft bill on the nuclear issue before returning it to the Majles. Instead of giving the government a one-month deadline - in the event Iran’s demands over lifting sanctions were not met - to limit cooperation with UN nuclear inspectors and step up Iran’s uranium enrichment further beyond the limits of the 2015 deal, the new version of the ‘Strategic Action To Eliminate Sanctions and Defend Iranian Nation’s Interests’ leaves the matter to the administration's discretion.

On Monday, when the draft bill was made public, Rouhani and government spokesman Ali Rabiei insisted that the nuclear issue was beyond the responsibility of parliament and instead a matter for the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), which is chaired ex officio by Rouhani and whose decisions are effective once confirmed by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Heated exchanges between parliamentarians – among whom principlists are a majority – and the Rouhani government meant few were surprised when the president said he would not appear on Wednesday to present the draft budget for 2021-2. There had been many rounds of strong words between parliament and government since the new Majles took office in late May.

Rouhani justified his non-attendance in terms of public-health protocols in place with the Covid-19 pandemic, but several lawmakers have continued their criticism of the president on social media. Nezameddin Mousavi said: "This will not belittle the Majles, but it was a childish behavior.”