Shamkhani: Review of the JCPOA in the Supreme National Security Council is in the Final Stages

Ali Shamkhani, the Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, announced that the council is now in the final stages of reviewing the Vienna nuclear agreement. This comes as factions of conservative lawmakers in the Islamic Consultative Assembly emphasize the need for the agreement to be examined in parliament. The Tasnim news agency reported on Thursday, August 29, Mr. Shamkhani's remarks, warning against factional interpretations of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), stating, 'None of the members of the Supreme National Security Council have a factional reading of the JCPOA.' According to him, the Supreme National Security Council is holding extraordinary sessions to examine all technical, legal, and economic aspects of the JCPOA, as well as issues related to inspections and sanctions, and this process has now reached its final stages. Recently, 201 members of the Islamic Consultative Assembly issued a statement requesting President Hassan Rouhani's government to present the Vienna nuclear agreement with world powers as a bill to the parliament. This approach is supported by senior conservative clerics such as Ahmad Jannati, Secretary of the Guardian Council, and Mohammad Yazdi, Chairman of the Assembly of Experts. However, the Iranian government has emphasized that the Vienna nuclear agreement should be reviewed and approved by the Supreme National Security Council. Ali Shamkhani also spoke of the council's willingness to cooperate with the Islamic Consultative Assembly regarding the review of the nuclear agreement. He stated that the council 'will apply considerations to the JCPOA document that will lead to desirable outcomes in close cooperation with the Islamic Consultative Assembly.' However, Mr. Shamkhani did not clarify whether the Vienna agreement will ultimately be converted into law by the Supreme National Security Council's resolution or by the Islamic Consultative Assembly's resolution. Previously, Aladdin Boroujerdi, Chairman of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the Iranian Parliament, had suggested that the parliament would only report its views on the Vienna nuclear agreement to the Supreme National Security Council. He emphasized that the parliament's view is that the nuclear agreement should become law through its approval. In this regard, members of the commission dealing with the nuclear agreement in the parliament have been appointed.