Iranian Parliament Representatives Propose Urgent Bill to Sanction American Goods

The Vice Chairman of the National Security Commission of the Iranian Parliament announced the submission of an "urgent" bill aimed at banning the purchase of consumer goods from the United States. Kamal Dehghani Firouzabadi stated on Tuesday, December 2, to the "House of the Nation" news agency that this bill was prepared in response to America's "bad faith." Mr. Dehghani Firouzabadi reported that 145 representatives have signed the bill and added that if approved, "the purchase, both directly and indirectly, of any consumer goods including agricultural and livestock products" from the U.S. would be prohibited. Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives extended Iran sanctions for another ten years, a move that has drawn reactions from some officials of the Islamic Republic. The House also passed a bill last Thursday that prohibits the sale of passenger aircraft to Iran. This legislation is a response to the Obama administration's decision to allow the sale of Airbus and Boeing passenger planes to Iran. Bahram Qasemi, the spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, reacted to this action by stating that the prohibition on selling aircraft to Iran in Congress is not enforceable. This morning, Iranian media reported that over 220 parliament members condemned the actions of the U.S. House of Representatives in a statement. These representatives called on President Hassan Rouhani's government to "take serious and reciprocal actions based on the law approved by the parliament regarding the JCPOA." This statement was prepared and published following a speech by Ali Larijani, the Speaker of the Parliament, criticizing the extension of certain sanctions against the Islamic Republic by the U.S. House of Representatives. Mr. Larijani mentioned in his speech that 50 bills were being reviewed in the U.S. House "in opposition to the JCPOA" and added that the recent extension of sanctions is among these bills. Mr. Larijani evaluated these legislations as "examples of America's insincere conduct" towards Iran and criticized U.S. House members for voting on two bills against Iran. During the nuclear negotiations between Iran and the West, the U.S. agreed to lift the ban on selling passenger aircraft to Iran due to the aging of Tehran's air fleet, but no aircraft have been delivered to Iran so far. Iran had previously announced its intention to purchase 118 passenger aircraft worth $25 billion from Airbus, but later reduced this number to 112. Boeing also reported exporting more than 80 aircraft worth $17.6 billion to Iran.