© AP/Vahid SalemiUranium conversion facility near Isfahan, Iran from 2005
Iranian lawmakers on Tuesday ratified the general outlines of
a national plan to boost nuclear activity in the wake of the recent assassination of Iranian nuclear physicist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, media reported.
According to the Mehr news agency, the so-called general outlines of the
counteractive plan for the lifting of sanctions were passed with 248 votes in favour. Parliament's national security and foreign policy commission spokesman Abolfazl Amouei said, as quoted by the media outlet:
"The nuclear program should proceed according to the needs of the country and we expect it to be strengthened after this [move], and the aim of the plan is to counter the sanctions imposed on the Iranian people by American and Western countries."
The legislation will also
oblige the government to suspend implementation of the Additional Protocol of the Non-Proliferation Treaty Safeguards Agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency, which allows the global watchdog to inspect Iran's nuclear facilities.
In accordance with the plan, Iran will be producing at least 120 kilograms of 20-percent enriched uranium annually. The weapons-grade uranium has an enrichment level of over 20 percent. Iran is currently enriching uranium at a level above 4 percent, rather than the 3.67 percent prescribed by the nuclear deal.
The plan also authorises the use of IR-2M
uranium enrichment centrifuges and IR-6 centrifuges, while the nuclear deal provides for the use of the first-generation IR-1 centrifuges.
The counteractive plan was given double urgency on Saturday following
the assassination of the top Iranian nuclear scientist. On Sunday, the parliament passed a relevant bill, dubbed "The strategic measure for the removal of sanctions".
The bill needs to be ratified by the Guardian Council, a special non-parliamentary authority, in order to take effect.
Comment: Two perspectives on international inspections of nuke sites arise from Iran's parliament and leadership:
The national parliament of Iran on Tuesday approved a bill demanding the suspension of UN inspections of its nuclear facilities, but the country's government has opposed the move.
The bill approved by MPs would suspend any further UN inspections, and require the government to "produce and store 120kg per year of uranium enriched to 20 percent" if European signatories to the 2015 nuclear deal fail to provide relief from oil and banking sanctions.
This would run counter to Iran's commitments under the deal agreed with world powers, and the parliament's vote prompted the executive to dismiss such a move.
"The government has explicitly announced that it does not agree with [this] plan" and considers it "neither necessary nor useful," Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh told reporters on Tuesday. But Speaker of Parliament Mohmmad Baqer Ghalibaf explained that the lawmakers were "hopeful to remove sanctions through this stern decision."
Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told AFP on Monday that "no-one, starting with Iran, would have anything to win from a decrease, limitation or interruption" of inspections of the nuclear facilities.
The Iranian parliament's vote on Tuesday also requires approval by the Guardian Council, a constitutional watchdog, and the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on all of the country's nuclear policies.
Comment: Two perspectives on international inspections of nuke sites arise from Iran's parliament and leadership: