Interim Nuclear Deal Not End of Hostility with US

Mohammad Dehqan, who is also a member of the presiding board of parliament, stressed that the nuclear capabilities of the country are not the subject of negotiation, and that in no agreement "the enemy can deprive our nation and scientists of the hard-won nuclear capacity."

“If America wanted to breach its commitments and follow the lead of the Zionists, it would be easy for us to return to 20% purity level of uranium and even higher levels in line with our peaceful nuclear program,” Mohammad Dehqan said in a visit to Chenaran city in northeastern Iran.

Through the Geneva deal Iran could secure part of its demands, but it is still too early for rejoicing or writing off the accord as a total failure, he added.

“By signing this agreement we are now at the beginning of a very tough and tense path with the Americans, so our victory and success in the future depends on the resistance of our government and nation against excessive US demands,” opined Dehqan.

He said that although the NPT recognizes the uranium enrichment right for every member country and the nuclear deal indirectly recognizes this right for Iran, the Americans could not wait more than two hours to breach the agreement they signed onto.

Article 4 of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty guarantees countries the right to develop the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. It says nothing in the treaty shall be interpreted as affecting the inalienable right of all the parties to the treaty to develop research, production and use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.

While the US officials assert that Iran’s right to enrich uranium would not be recognized in an interim deal, the text says the “comprehensive solution” will “involve a mutually defined enrichment program with mutually agreed parameters.” This is evidence the United States and its partners have already agreed that Iranian enrichment activity will continue indefinitely.

Iran maintains that this is no concession but is, rather, recognition of the country’s inalienable right under the NPT to enrich uranium on its own soil.

In recent years, Russia and China have signaled acceptance of Iran's demand that it’s right to enrich for peaceful purposes be recognized, and Germany supports the right of any country to that activity as long as it is peaceful. But the other three nations at the table with Iran -- the United States, Britain and France -- have continued to balk.

According to Dehqan, many US congressmen echo the demands of Israel, and if the US could, it definitely would deprive Iran of its nuclear rights in the next step.

The Iranian MP’s remarks were made as many US legislators have called for new sanctions, saying that greater pressure could force Iran to yield more. The administration of President Barack Obama calls that unrealistic and says new sanctions could derail any chance for diplomacy to succeed.

Senators have been discussing for months imposing even tighter sanctions, which could put the deal reached in Geneva in jeopardy. Many Republicans already have criticized Obama over the agreement, and some Democrats, who tend to more hawkish on Iran than Obama's administration, have been skeptical about it.

A bill to impose stringent sanctions against Iran has been put on hold in the Senate after Obama's administration appealed for a delay to allow time to pursue a diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear standoff.

While congressional approval is not necessary for the temporary agreement, an engaged and supportive Congress will be pivotal for any permanent arrangement, especially as additional sanctions will be created or the existing ones will be lifted.