New Proposal by 80 Iranian Parliament Members: Negotiating with 5+1 Without the Americans

Just one day after the spokesperson for the Iranian Parliament's presiding board commented on the cancellation of new proposals for Iran's nuclear negotiations, 80 members on Tuesday, May 11, presented a plan to exclude the U.S. from negotiations with the 5+1 group. According to Tasnim News Agency, if this plan is finally approved, Iran's nuclear negotiating team will be required to cut off "any communication and negotiation with the Americans" regarding Iran's nuclear program until the U.S. government "officially and publicly" abandons its "threats" and continue negotiations with "the other members of the 5+1 group without the Americans". Among the signatories of this proposal are Jawad Karimi Qodousi, Ismail Kowsari, Rouhollah Hosseinian, Hamid Rasai, Ali Asghar Zarei, Morteza Aghatehrani, and Seyyed Masoud Mir-Kazemi. The submission of this proposal with an urgency of three was made to the presiding board of the parliament, while some representatives whose names were mentioned as signatories have stated that Jawad Karimi Qodousi, its designer, obtained their signatures "with different phrases" from the text submitted to the presiding board and also with a request for two urgencies. For instance, Mohsen Beiglari, a representative from Saqqez and Baneh, said: "When Karimi Qodousi came to get signatures from us... he said we want to write a letter to the President to maintain our dignity in the nuclear negotiations." According to IRNA, he added: "Most representatives deny their signatures on this proposal and are protesting it." Meanwhile, Alireza Salimi, another signatory of this proposal, also stated that Jawad Karimi Qodousi presented a "two-urgency" plan for representatives' signatures, but later this plan was submitted with a three-urgency to the presiding board of the parliament. According to ISNA, he added: "We realized that the plan we signed was three-urgency, and currently we oppose the three-urgency plan." At the same time, Mohammad Hossein Farhangi, a member of the parliament's presiding board, said: "Several representatives visited the presiding board today and expressed their written warning regarding this action by the representative of Mashhad and complained about it. We have also referred this complaint to the legal department of the parliament for further investigation." One day before the submission of the three-urgency proposal by parliament members, Behrouz Namati, the spokesperson for the presiding board, stated that based on the summary of this board, there is currently no need for new proposals regarding Iran's nuclear negotiations with the 5+1 group. Prior to this, Baqer Hosseini, a parliament member, reported on Sunday that Ali Larijani, the Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, had "strongly" opposed the three-urgency proposal known as the halt of nuclear negotiations. This three-urgency proposal aimed to stop negotiations regarding Iran's nuclear program until the end of the "threats" from the U.S. and a formal apology from this country "in a statement". The submission of these proposals in the Iranian parliament followed remarks by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, on Wednesday, May 5, stating that he does not agree with nuclear negotiations "under the shadow of threats". Before these remarks, Joe Biden, the U.S. Vice President, on May 1, called an attack on Iran "risky" and that it "might still be accepted" by the U.S. The submission of the three-urgency proposal by parliament members to exclude the U.S. from negotiations with Iran and the 5+1 group comes as Abbas Araghchi, a member of Iran's nuclear negotiating team, stated that a bilateral meeting between the Iranian and American negotiating teams will take place in Vienna on Thursday. The Iranian negotiating team arrived in Vienna on Tuesday to resume discussions with the 5+1 negotiators on drafting a comprehensive agreement. According to a parliament member quoting Abbas Araghchi, the deputy foreign minister of Iran, "20 pages" of the final agreement regarding Iran's nuclear program have been prepared, which relate to nuclear activities, "the lifting of sanctions on Iran and its timeline". Agreement has been reached on "a relatively significant portion" of the final agreement. Meanwhile, Mr. Araghchi stated on Tuesday in Vienna that "we now have a text on which a relatively significant portion has been agreed upon, but one part of it is still under dispute". According to IRIB, he added: "In some paragraphs, a phrase is disputed, in some paragraphs a sentence, and in some places the entire phrase is disputed, but a significant portion is now completed." This member of the Iranian nuclear negotiating team expressed hope that the parties could reach a "final conclusion" before July 1. Mr. Araghchi also stated: "There are various factors inside and outside the negotiation room that could hinder progress; we are simultaneously dealing with all these factors and continuing the negotiations." Following the Lausanne agreement, Iran and the world powers are expected to reach a comprehensive and inclusive final agreement by July 11.