Lawmakers Petition Rouhani on Nuclear Deal

On May 9, more than a third of the Members in Iran’s outgoing Parliament submitted a petition to President Hassan Rouhani demanding that the government end compliance with the nuclear deal. The petition called for resumption of research and development of Tehran’s nuclear program if the United States fails to fulfill its obligations. “America denies its lack of commitment and in practice sabotages Iran by blocking the lifting of sanctions, banking exchanges, and the returning of assets,” the letter said. It was signed by 103 Members of Parliament. 

The petition specifically cited Central Bank chief Valiollah Seif, who recently said that that the United States and its partners in diplomacy have not done enough to implement the accord. During a visit to Washington in April, Seif said that “almost nothing” has happened four months after the deal went into effect. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has also urged the United States to be more proactive. “The United States needs to do way more. They have to send a message that doing business with Iran will not cost them [European banks],” he told The New Yorker in April.

 

Ebrahim Karkhaneh, a conservative lawmaker who is critical of the nuclear deal, organized the petition. With a new parliament due to convene on May 27, hardliners in the outgoing Majlis are running out of time to challenge Rouhani’s foreign policy. Rouhani’s supporters— a loose group of reformists, centrists and moderate conservatives —will outnumber hardliners in the new Parliament, which will convene on May 27. The following is an excerpted translation of the letter.

 

“While the Islamic Republic of Iran has implemented all of its commitments, the agreement according to sections 7, 13, and 14 of Annex 5 of the JCPOA [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action] was that the opposing side would implement its commitments in sections 16 and 17 of the same annex on Implementation Day. The sabotage and prevention of the implementation of the JCPOA by the Americans over the past three months is explicitly contrary to section 3 of the “The Proportional and Reciprocal Plan of Action for the Implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.”

 

“America denies its lack of commitment and in practice sabotages Iran by blocking the lifting of sanctions, banking exchanges, and the returning of assets. According to the governor of the Central Bank – because of the Americans’ sabotage – there have scarcely been any economic gains for the people of Iran. The current situation requires urgent deadlines to be demanded of the Americans. The continuation of sabotage, the non-normalization of financial transactions and banking, and the failure to return frozen assets of the Islamic Republic of Iran and new sanctions will result in the stopping of voluntary proceedings and the Islamic Republic of Iran will resume all of its activities, like before, under the framework of the NPT.”