No Need for Parliament’s Approval of JCPOA: Iran’s Deputy FM
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht Ravanchi dismissed the need for ratification of the finalized text of a nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers by the country’s parliament, saying the Supreme National Security Council itself deals with the case.
Speaking to reporters in the city of Qom on Wednesday, Takht Ravanchi -a senior member of the Iranian team of negotiators in nuclear talks with six world powers- said it is not necessary for the parliament to ratify the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), because in that case, the decision will turn into a “domestic law”.
“The JCPOA’s nature is not like a protocol or an international treaty. The other parties (to the deal), namely the six countries that negotiated with Iran, are not going to ratify it. Thus, there is no need for its ratification by the Majlis (Iran’s parliament),” the diplomat explained.
Takht Ravanchi said the country’s Supreme National Security Council is scrutinizing the deal under a measure passed by the parliament itself, so that the JCPOA will undergo legal processes if it wins the SNSC’s approval and Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei’s endorsement.
For any plans to prepare a “fact sheet” on the JCPOA, the parliament should know that the deal has to be taken into account as a whole without any modification, he further stressed.
Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) on July 14 reached a conclusion on a lasting nuclear agreement that would terminate all sanctions imposed on Tehran over its nuclear energy program after coming into force.
The 159-page deal has its own opponents and proponents both in Iran and the other countries that are parties to the JCPOA, particularly the US.
Diplomats have already made it clear that the document could be either approved or rejected, and no amendment or revision could take place.
