Iranian MP: Adoption of Additional Protocol Needs Parliament Approval
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A senior Iranian lawmaker said that any decision on adopting the Additional Protocol of the International Atomic Energy Agency would need the prior approval of parliament.
“Implementation of the Additional Protocol by the Islamic Republic should be ratified in the Islamic Consultative Assembly (parliament),” Seyed Hossein Naqavi Hosseini, Rapporteur of Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission told Tasnim on Wednesday.
His comments came after Iran's deputy foreign minister and lead negotiator with the six major world powers said that any discussion on the level of Iran's uranium enrichment as well as its adoption of the Additional Protocol come in the final stage of its proposed plan offered in Geneva.
Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told reporters on Tuesday evening that the issue of negotiations on the level of uranium enrichment and implementation of the Additional Protocol “is not discussed in the first step of Iran’s package of proposals, but constitutes part of its final stage.”
“If the Majlis (Iran’s legislature) rejects the Additional Protocol, the administration will not be able to sign any agreement on the issue,” Naqavi Hosseini pointed out.
The voluntary but advanced nuclear safeguards standard, the implementation of which includes a legal document, was accepted earlier by Iran in 2003, but not officially ratified by the country’s parliament.
The Additional Protocol substantially expands the IAEA's ability to check nuclear facilities by providing the agency with authority to visit any facility, declared or not, to investigate questions about or inconsistencies in a state's nuclear declarations. States party to the Non-Proliferation Treaty are not required to adopt an additional protocol, although the IAEA is urging all to do so.
