Iranian disputes over nuclear escalation

On the impact of the internal Iranian disputes on the management of the current stage, in light of the rapid developments domestically and internationally, the Islamic Consultative Assembly (Parliament) approved, on Tuesday, a bill that would restore the nuclear program Iranian before the nuclear deal concluded in 2015, taking action. Significant nuclear weapons, a development that also did not deviate from the circle of divisions, with government opposition to parliament moving in this direction.

The successive developments have caused divisions within Iran, facing US policies and the position on the nuclear deal, and the response to US sanctions, resulting in the assassination of prominent nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, last Friday, near the capital, Tehran, adds to these differences. In addition to the murder of Fakhri Zadeh, whom Tehran has formally accused of being behind the Israeli occupation, and of having forced the United States, Saudi Arabia and the PMOI to participate in the incident, another fact has contributed to the increase in Iranian differences. , which is the victory of the Democratic candidate, Joe Biden, in the US presidential elections.

In the mud of this division, Parliament yesterday approved a draft entitled “The Strategic Action to Cancel US Sanctions”, which was imposed on Iran after Washington’s withdrawal from the nuclear agreement on May 8, 2018, and approved a set of outstanding decisions. The deputies approved yesterday in a session of Parliament the outlines of the project, with the approval of 251 of 290, which is the number of Iranian deputies, amid opposition from the Iranian government. Under the provisions passed by Parliament, it forced the Iranian government to “produce at least 120 kilograms of uranium with an enrichment rate of 20 percent” at the Fordo facility, two months after the approval of the law, according to the first clause. Note that before the nuclear deal was reached, you were producing uranium at 20 percent enrichment, but you pledged under the agreement to reduce it to 3.67 percent, before you decided to increase the percentage to 4. , 5 percent over the past year, as part of the second of the five steps it reduced. His nuclear promises. In addition, the parliamentarians also forced the government to approve the second item of the project, “to produce 500 kilograms of enriched uranium every month.”

The conservative Iranian parliament was not satisfied with this percentage, as Iran’s Atomic Energy Commission also called for “raising the peaceful uranium needs of the country’s industries, with enrichment levels above 20 percent entirely.” Under the third clause of the project, it also agreed to install 1,000 new centrifuges at the Natanz facility in central Iran and to carry out enrichment and gas pumping operations to these devices within three months after the law was passed, in addition to forcing the government to “start up a uranium metal production plant in Isfahan. Within 5 months after the adoption of the law “.

The project approves the production of uranium at 20 percent enrichment

During the session, some lawmakers chanted slogans of “Death to America” ​​and “Death to Israel” after members of Parliament approved the bill, which Parliament had approved a day before the US elections, to be placed in the agenda for further discussion, but the murder of Fakhri Zada ​​pushed him to advance the appointment and prioritize it. Parliament voted on Sunday to advance the date of discussion of the project aimed at “reviving the Iranian nuclear industry” according to its vision, by adopting nuclear measures that would cancel the Iranian promises stipulated in the nuclear agreement between Tehran and the community. international in 2015, to restore that nuclear program. Iran went to a stage before reaching this agreement.

The project goes beyond the five steps Tehran has taken to halt nuclear promises over the past two years, in response to the US withdrawal from the nuclear deal and subsequent “historic” and “delaying” US sanctions. Europeans in implementing their “11 promises” to enable Iran to reap the economic rewards of the nuclear deal. .

The implementation of the measures approved yesterday by the parliament means putting an end to the “additional protocol” of the UN. However, Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabiei said at a press conference yesterday that canceling this protocol “is not within the remit of the council” (that is, the Iranian parliament), announcing that the government opposes the decision. of the representatives in this regard, highlighting that the matter is in accordance with the constitution among the prerogatives of the Supreme Council of National Security in the country. Rabiei added: “If the goal of the project is to cancel the sanctions, it will not lead to that.” However, the spokesman for the Iranian parliament, Muhammad Baqir Qalibaf, had a different opinion and said, according to the Iranian news agency “Fars”, that “the parliament has the right and the authority to get involved in this issue regarding the constitution.”

Rabiei was not the only official who expressed the government’s rejection of these measures. Rather, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatib Zadeh expressed the same position, saying at a press conference yesterday that the parliamentary bill does not reflect the government’s point of view and that the parliament “took an independent path” . He expressed hope that “MPs will pay attention to foreign Iranian views.”

However, it remains unlikely at present to implement new nuclear measures, which appear to be aimed at putting pressure on the president-elect of the United States, Joe Biden, before taking office, and whether he will follow a path that differs from that taken by the loser president of the United States, Donald Trump, according to a strategy. Maximum pressure “against Iran.

Government: Abolition of the Additional Protocol is not the prerogative of Parliament

Parliament’s decision came yesterday, amid escalating differences between the Iranian government and the Conservatives, since the first moments of the assassination of Fakhri Zadeh, the government of President Hassan Rouhani has faced accusations from parliamentarians, the media and professionals. of the media that these murders are the result of negotiations with the West and the nuclear agreement concluded with the international community in 2015. These accusations went so far as to accuse the government that it was the one who provided Fakhri Zadeh’s name to the International Agency for Atomic Energy, which led to his identification and later his murder. But the government denied it, and its foreign minister, Muhammad Javad Zarif, said on Monday that the Mossad and the United States had submitted the name to the International Atomic Energy Agency in 2005, indicating that after that the UN Security Council placed Fakhri Zadeh on the sanctions list in Resolution 1747 issued. March 24, 2007. Note that at the time the Iranian government was conservative, headed by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

At the same time, while the Iranian government sees Biden’s victory as an “opportunity” to lift sanctions and return to negotiations with Washington to reduce tensions and cancel sanctions in the country, this approach is strongly rejected and criticized by the Iranian conservatives, who consider sending these signals to the new American administration. Not in the interest of the country, blaming it for the economic crisis and that “enemies dare” to resume the killings. However, those close to the Rouhani government believe that the pressures it faces, as well as the stalking against any tendency to negotiate with Biden during the remaining seven months of Rouhani’s term, have electoral motives linked to the upcoming presidential elections in Iran scheduled. for the next month of June, after Conservatives controlled the current parliament completely during the elections that were held last February, after the removal of the reformists, whose eligibility for most of their candidates was rejected to run in the contest.

There are also differences today on the steps that can be taken to respond to the assassination of Fakhrizadeh, amid threats from military and political leaders that “the response is inevitable and determined”, but “in a timely manner.” There is a conviction among Iranian decision makers that the Israeli occupation and Saudi Arabia are trying to drag Tehran into a military confrontation with the United States for the remainder of Trump’s term, and that observers believe that Trump also seems excited about that. option to bomb Biden’s path to Iran and obstruct his tendencies to re-negotiate with him. . However, the conservative Iranian parliament believes that there is a weakness that the government shows in making the necessary decisions available to respond to Fakhrizadeh’s assassination. On Sunday, he attacked him in an obituary, expressing regret at the “lack of balanced response” to previous killings of nuclear scientists, and accusing the government. Trying to follow the path of negotiations with the “masters of criminals”, while calling for “reviving the nuclear industry” and “stopping the implementation of the additional protocol”, according to which Iran promised to carry out “strict inspections “and” unprecedented “of its nuclear facilities in accordance with the nuclear agreement.