Opposition to Nuclear Agreement in Iran: 'Zarif Violated the Representatives' Duty'

Only hours after Iran's nuclear agreement with world powers in Lausanne, Switzerland, several close associates of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, and conservative members of parliament criticized this agreement. Among them, a member of the National Security Commission of Parliament considered the West's achievements to be greater than Iran's. Hossein Shariatmadari, representative of the Islamic Republic leader in the Kayhan newspaper, briefly stated that "we have given a saddled horse and received a torn bridle in return." According to Fars News Agency, he emphasized on Friday morning, April 14, that "we named the two-phase agreement a press release." Iran and the P5+1 countries reached an understanding on the framework of a comprehensive nuclear agreement after eight days of negotiations on Thursday, April 13. Following this initial agreement, the parties have until the end of June to draft the final agreement. This event comes while Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had previously expressed his opposition to the potential two-phase nature of the nuclear agreement between Iran and the P5+1. Meanwhile, the Vice Chairman of the National Security Commission of the Iranian Parliament also criticized the outcome of the Lausanne negotiations, stating that the achievements of the Western side in these negotiations were "greater" than those of the Iranian side. According to Fars News Agency, Mansour Haqiqatpour, this member of the National Security Commission, added: "Their situation was 60 and even 70 to 40 and 30." He asserted: "Zarif and the negotiating team have clearly and truly violated the representatives' duty, such that the Additional Protocol, which was within the powers of the parliament representatives, was decided by Zarif himself, and certainly the parliament will address accountability in this regard in the first sessions next week." Based on the agreement between Iran and the P5+1 in Lausanne, the Iranian nuclear negotiating team announced that it would voluntarily implement the Additional Protocol of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons for a period of time. According to the Additional Protocol of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, which was signed during the presidency of Mohammad Khatami but was not approved by the Islamic Consultative Assembly, inspectors from the agency will be allowed to inspect Iran's nuclear facilities whenever they deem necessary. On the other hand, several critics of the agreement reached in the Lausanne negotiations have also stated that the texts announced by Iran and the U.S. regarding these agreements differ. For instance, Fars News Agency reported in an article by Yaser Jabari that the text announced by the Iranian Foreign Ministry regarding "a summary of the total solutions agreed upon to reach a comprehensive action plan" has "worrisome differences" with the text published on the official website of the U.S. State Department regarding this matter. According to Mr. Jabari, the U.S. State Department's text states that "Iran has agreed not to enrich uranium at Fordow for 15 years and will not conduct research and development related to enrichment at this site either." Meanwhile, the Iranian Foreign Ministry's text states: "The Fordow nuclear facility will be converted into a center for nuclear research and advanced physics." Accepting limited uranium enrichment only at the Natanz facility, converting the Fordow site into a research center, the international redesign of the Arak heavy water reactor, transferring inactive centrifuges to storage, reducing uranium stockpiles, and of course regular monitoring by the International Atomic Energy Agency were among Iran's commitments based on the Lausanne agreement. Concurrently with the criticism of the outcome of the Lausanne negotiations, some members of the Iranian parliament also criticized the statements of Barack Obama, the President of the United States. Among them, the spokesman for the National Security Commission of the Iranian Parliament criticized Obama's statements and, according to him, the difference in the content of the White House statement compared to the Lausanne press release, adding: "The parliament will respond to the demanding and extortionate statements of the White House." According to Mehr News Agency, Hossein Naqavi Hosseini added: "Obama's claims and the content of the White House statement regarding Iran's nuclear issues contained matters that raised many suspicions; including addressing non-nuclear issues such as terrorism, Iran's defense industry and missile program, and the accusation of Iran threatening the security of regional countries and the Zionist regime." He asserted: "These remarks create suspicions that the negotiating team must clarify the relationship between the negotiations and these statements and position themselves transparently." Barack Obama, describing the agreement reached in Lausanne as "historic," told the Iranian people that "we want to engage based on our common interests and this agreement offers a perspective for lifting sanctions." He also emphasized that Washington's concerns about Iran remain: as a government that continues to support terrorism, has hands in destabilizing the Middle East, and threatens America's allies and friends, such as Israel. The spokesman for the National Security Commission of the Iranian Parliament, in another part of his remarks, said: "It must be clarified that in the event of a final agreement, will threats, sanctions, and pressures continue under other pretexts, or will the Western side adhere to its commitments?" Mr. Naqavi Hosseini added: "If sanctions are to continue after the nuclear agreement under other pretexts, the agreement will be fruitless." According to the agreement between Iran and the P5+1 countries in Lausanne, the European Union will end the economic and financial sanctions related to Iran's nuclear program, and the United States will also suspend the implementation of secondary financial and economic sanctions related to the nuclear issue, simultaneously with the implementation of Iran's major nuclear commitments as verified by the International Atomic Energy Agency. In this context, John Kerry, the U.S. Secretary of State, emphasized that if Tehran does not act according to the understanding, sanctions will be reimposed.