Iraqchi: The Foreign Ministry Does Not Judge the Approval of the JCPOA

Abbas Araghchi, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister, emphasized that the Foreign Ministry cannot make a judgment in the dispute surrounding the approval of the nuclear agreement and the responsible institution for it. According to the Islamic Republic News Agency, Mr. Araghchi stated on Saturday, August 15, "There are two legal theories regarding the JCPOA, and the Foreign Ministry does not judge on this matter and is not in a position to judge, as the decision-makers are elsewhere." This Iranian government official had previously stated that it is not appropriate for the Islamic Consultative Assembly (Parliament) to approve the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), as none of the countries in the 1+5 group have approved this agreement in their parliaments. However, following reactions from conservative media, Mr. Araghchi clarified his remarks, stating that he had mentioned, "without a definitive legal judgment," that there are two opinions regarding the approval of the JCPOA: one emphasizes its approval in the Islamic Consultative Assembly, and the other in the Supreme National Security Council of Iran. According to Mr. Araghchi, some legal experts believe for three reasons that the JCPOA does not fall under Article 77 of the Constitution, which states that treaties and international agreements must be approved by the Islamic Consultative Assembly. Firstly, the JCPOA is merely an executive document due to its format and is not a treaty or international agreement. Secondly, since the JCPOA is an annex to a Security Council resolution, and resolutions of this council do not require parliamentary approval, this resolution and its annex also do not need parliamentary confirmation. Thirdly, due to the involvement of the Supreme National Security Council in the nuclear issue, this matter falls under the jurisdiction of this council according to Article 176 of the Constitution. The discussion about which institution should convert the nuclear agreement into a legal resolution in Iran has become a serious dispute among various groups within the Iranian government. While Hassan Rouhani's government insists that the Islamic Consultative Assembly should not intervene in this matter, some clerics and prominent conservative figures have called for the agreement to be reviewed in Parliament, including Ahmad Jannati, Secretary of the Guardian Council, and Mohammad Yazdi, Chairman of the Assembly of Experts. Abbas Araghchi had previously emphasized that Iran should announce its final opinion on the Vienna nuclear agreement sooner than the United States, so that if the U.S. Congress wishes to reject this agreement, "the entire burden of rejecting the agreement and the failure of negotiations" falls on the U.S. In this context, Alim al-Huda described the nuclear agreement as crossing the leader's red line, and Firouzabadi advised Parliament to review the nuclear agreement. The son of Karroubi stated that actions were supposed to be taken to lift the house arrest after the nuclear agreement. Araghchi mentioned that the enrichment program would be presented to the Agency in two or three months. Barack Obama stated that critics of the nuclear agreement are ideological or unreasonable. Obama also mentioned that a transition must occur within Iran. A group of prominent Iranian-Americans expressed support for the agreement with Iran.