Iran's Khamenei backs parliamentary vote on nuclear deal with powers - state TV
By
Parisa Hafezi ANKARA (Reuters) - Iran's Supreme Leader said on Thursday
he favored a parliamentary vote on its nuclear deal reached with world
powers and called for sanctions against Tehran to be lifted completely
rather than suspended, state television reported. President Hassan
Rouhani, a…
Iran's Khamenei backs parliamentary vote on nuclear deal with powers - state TV
By Parisa Hafezi
2 hours ago
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks live on television after casting his ballot in …
By Parisa Hafezi
ANKARA (Reuters) - Iran's Supreme
Leader said on Thursday he favored a parliamentary vote on its nuclear
deal reached with world powers and called for sanctions against Tehran
to be lifted completely rather than suspended, state television
reported.
President Hassan Rouhani, a pragmatist whose 2013 election paved the way to a diplomatic thaw with the West, and his allies have opposed such a parliamentary vote, arguing this would create legal obligations complicating the deal's implementation.
Ali Larijani, Iran's parliament speaker, told reporters in New York on Thursday that Iranian lawmakers would likely debate the accord more heatedly than in the U.S. Congress, where Republicans have sought to kill the deal.
Larijani, an ex-chief nuclear negotiator, said he personally considered the accord good but some stiff opposition remained in the Majlis (parliament), including over a so-called "snapback" clause under which U.N. sanctions can be reinstated in the event of alleged violations of the terms of the settlement.
For his part, President Barack Obama secured enough Senate votes on Wednesday to see the nuclear pact through Congress -- a vote must be taken by Sept. 17 -- but hawkish Republicans vowed to pursue their fight to scuttle it by passing new sanctions.
Khamenei said that without a cancellation of sanctions that have hobbled Iran's economy, the deal would be jeopardized.
"Our officials have been banned from holding talks with Americans except on the nuclear issue. This is because our policies differ with America," he said.
"One of America's regional policies is to fully destroy the forces of resistance and wants to retake full control of Iraq and Syria ... America expects Iran to be part of this framework," Khamenei told a session of the Assembly of Experts which has the power both to dismiss a Supreme Leader and to choose one. "But this will never happen."
By "forces of resistance", Khamenei was alluding to Islamist militant groups such as Hezbollah, a close ally -- like Iran -- of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in his war with rebels trying to overthrow him.
Rouhani has made it clear in his speeches that he favors greater engagement with the world, seeming open to cooperating with the United States to reduce conflict in the Middle East.
President Hassan Rouhani, a pragmatist whose 2013 election paved the way to a diplomatic thaw with the West, and his allies have opposed such a parliamentary vote, arguing this would create legal obligations complicating the deal's implementation.
"Parliament should not be sidelined on the nuclear deal
issue ... I am not saying lawmakers should ratify or reject the deal. It
is up to them to decide," said Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the
final say on all state policy in Iran.
“I have told the president that it is not in our interest
to not let our lawmakers review the deal,” the top Shi'ite Muslim cleric
said in remarks broadcast live on state TV.
The
landmark pact, clinched on July 14 between Iran and the United States,
Germany, France, Russia, China and Britain, would limit Iran's nuclear
program to ensure it is not put to making bombs in exchange for a
removal of economic sanctions.
Khamenei himself has not publicly endorsed or voiced
opposition to the Vienna accord, although he has praised the work of the
Islamic Republic's negotiating team.
A special
committee of parliament, where conservative hardliners close to Khamenei
are predominant, have begun reviewing the deal before putting it to a
vote. But Rouhani's government has not prepared a bill for parliament to
vote on. Ali Larijani, Iran's parliament speaker, told reporters in New York on Thursday that Iranian lawmakers would likely debate the accord more heatedly than in the U.S. Congress, where Republicans have sought to kill the deal.
Larijani, an ex-chief nuclear negotiator, said he personally considered the accord good but some stiff opposition remained in the Majlis (parliament), including over a so-called "snapback" clause under which U.N. sanctions can be reinstated in the event of alleged violations of the terms of the settlement.
A
senior Iranian lawmaker, speaking on condition of anonymity, told
reporters a Majlis committee created to assess the deal would reach a
decision within weeks, with a parliamentary vote in around a month.
OBAMA GATHERS NEEDED SENATE VOTESFor his part, President Barack Obama secured enough Senate votes on Wednesday to see the nuclear pact through Congress -- a vote must be taken by Sept. 17 -- but hawkish Republicans vowed to pursue their fight to scuttle it by passing new sanctions.
Khamenei said that without a cancellation of sanctions that have hobbled Iran's economy, the deal would be jeopardized.
"Should the sanctions be suspended, then there would be no
deal either. So this issue must be resolved. If they only suspend the
sanctions, then we will only suspend our nuclear activities," he said.
Iran and the Western powers have appeared to differ since the accord was
struck on precisely how and when sanctions are to be dismantled.
"Then we could go on and triple the number of centrifuges
to 60,000, keep a 20 percent level of uranium enrichment and also
accelerate our research and development (R&D) activities," the
Supreme Leader added.
The Vienna agreement places strict curbs on all three sensitive
elements of Iran's nuclear program, seen as crucial to creating
confidence that Tehran will not covertly seek to develop atomic bombs
from enriched uranium.
Iran has said it wants only peaceful nuclear energy.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, Iran's arch
regional enemy, insisted on Thursday most Americans agreed with him over
dangers posed by Tehran, even as he lost his battle to persuade
Congress to reject the deal once Obama had bagged enough votes to get it
upheld.
Khamenei also criticized the United States'
Middle East policy, suggesting that antagonism prevailing between Iran
and Washington since the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Tehran will not
abate because of the nuclear deal. "Our officials have been banned from holding talks with Americans except on the nuclear issue. This is because our policies differ with America," he said.
"One of America's regional policies is to fully destroy the forces of resistance and wants to retake full control of Iraq and Syria ... America expects Iran to be part of this framework," Khamenei told a session of the Assembly of Experts which has the power both to dismiss a Supreme Leader and to choose one. "But this will never happen."
By "forces of resistance", Khamenei was alluding to Islamist militant groups such as Hezbollah, a close ally -- like Iran -- of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in his war with rebels trying to overthrow him.
Rouhani has made it clear in his speeches that he favors greater engagement with the world, seeming open to cooperating with the United States to reduce conflict in the Middle East.
But Khamenei and his hardline loyalists remain deeply suspicious of
U.S. intentions. Relations with Washington were severed in 1979 and
hostility towards the United States remains a central rallying point of
influential hardliners in Tehran.
(Additional reporting by Louis Charbonneau in New York; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
Reuters
end quote from:
end quote from:
No comments:
Post a Comment