Iran’s parliament on Sunday approved an outline of a bill that would allow the government to implement the nuclear deal reached with world powers including the U.S. in July, the official IRNA news agency said.
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The government of President Hassan Rouhani had wanted to bypass parliament entirely but Supreme Leader Ayatollah said he wanted the legislature to review the deal, under which Iran will curb disputed aspects of its nuclear programme in exchange for a lifting of worldwide sanctions.
The official further underlined that, “however, the nuclear talks were of a different nature and due to Iran’s great technological progress and the stability of the nation, the enemy felt the need to call for negotiations despite all sanctions and hostilities”.
IRNA said 139 lawmakers out of 253 present voted for the bill.
A report by IRNA news agency also said that three MPs repeatedly interrupted Salehi’s speech and tried to bring him down from the podium when they were restrained by other MPs.
The July 14 deal opened the door to easing decades of mounting hostility between Iran and the West. Western powers suspect the programme was aimed at developing the means to build an atom bomb. says it seeks only peaceful atomic energy. The vote saw a heated debate, with Iran’s conservative bloc broadly opposed to the deal condemning the reformist government for making concessions and claiming the “American wolves” had gotten the better of the deal.
State television showed what appeared to be a successful launch of the new missile, named Emad, Iran’s first precision-guided weapon with the range to strike Israel.
Referring to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s recent remarks, Larijani said there may be a few mistakes by Iran which would endanger the country, but added that certain measures if taken would prevent damages to the country.
Lawmaker Ruhollah Hosseinian, an opponent of the deal, said parliament needed to discuss it in detail.
The bill was proposed by the parliament’s National Security Committee.
Iran’s Defense Minister Gen. Hossein Dehghan meanwhile hailed the new surface-to-surface missile, saying it “will obviously boost the strategic deterrence capability of our armed forces”.
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Since 1992, Iran has boasted an indigenous military industry, producing missiles, tanks and light submarines.
