Iranian lawmakers approved the outlines of a bill that would ban inspections of military sites and require the lifting of all international sanctions under any nuclear deal with six world powers.
The vote, although preliminary, may complicate talks aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear program as negotiators race to meet a self-imposed June 30 deadline for a deal.
The U.S. won’t agree to a deal without securing the access and transparency needed to fully assess Iran’s nuclear program, a State Department official said in a statement Sunday on condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations.
About 199 of 213 lawmakers in Iran’s plenum voted Sunday in favor of the measure, the state-run Mehr news agency reported. For the bill to become law, a detailed version has to be approved by parliament and the Guardian Council.
The U.S. official described the vote as a preliminary legislative step that awaits final action. Still, any perception that Iran is prepared to hinder access for international inspectors will make any deal a tougher sell in Congress, which has the power to review and possibly block it.
Senator Bob Corker, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said Iran must allow for “anytime, anywhere” inspections and access to its nuclear scientists.
“It’s been central to our understanding of what their capabilities are,” the Tennessee Republican said in an interview June 17. Corker also wrote a letter to the White House expressing alarm about reports that U.S. negotiators are retreating from their demands for unimpeded inspections and may be “allowing the deal to erode.”
Diplomats Converge
Diplomats from Iran and the U.S., U.K., France, Germany, Russia and China are converging on Vienna in an attempt to reach a final, comprehensive nuclear deal by June 30 that would limit Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for easing international sanctions that have hobbled its economy.
Access by the International Atomic Energy Agency to some of Iran’s military sites, which are deemed suspect by the U.S. and its allies, and the mechanism of sanctions removal have been points of contention in the negotiations. Iran denies its nuclear program has a military component.
The agency “will need to have the access it needs to resolve the issues of possible military dimensions of Iran’s program,” State Department spokesman John Kirby said at a press briefing Friday. “And without the parameters for that sort of access, there’s not going to be a deal, and we’ve said that no deal is better than a bad deal.”
Continued Strains
The vote by Iran’s legislature highlighted the continued strains between President Hassan Rouhani’s political allies and his hard-line opponents. Rouhani’s critics have accused nuclear negotiators of showing too much leniency in talks with six world powers.
The proposed legislation approved Sunday would bar access by international inspectors to military, security and sensitive non-nuclear sites, Mehr reported. All sanctions against Iran should be lifted “on the day Iran carries out its commitments,” Mehr said.
A fleshed-out version of the proposed legislation is to be reviewed at the next parliamentary session, Mehr said, without giving a date.