Zarif Attends Closed Session of Parliament to Explain Lausanne Agreement

Following a closed session of Parliament on Tuesday, representatives from Mashhad and Rasht in the Islamic Consultative Assembly reported that Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran's Foreign Minister, announced that Iran will not allow the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to install 'online' cameras to monitor its nuclear facilities. According to reports, Mohammad Javad Zarif and Ali Akbar Salehi, head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, provided explanations regarding the nuclear agreement between Iran and the 5+1 group in Lausanne, Switzerland, to the parliament members on Tuesday morning, April 18. According to Fars News Agency, Jawad Karimi Qoddusi, a representative from Mashhad, who had a 'verbal altercation' with the Foreign Minister on Sunday, quoted Zarif as stating that Iran 'absolutely' will not accept the operation of 'online cameras' at its nuclear sites. Zarif also mentioned that the issue of 'undeclared facilities... has its own specific mechanisms and frameworks, and it is not the case that the Western side can do whatever it wants.' On Sunday, Karimi Qoddusi had also expressed his objections to Iran's commitments under the Lausanne agreement, stating, 'It has been accepted that the IAEA's cameras, which have been operating offline until now, will transmit images online from now on.' He emphasized that 'these images will be viewed simultaneously in the terrorist centers of the Zionist regime, England, and France, which is beyond the Additional Protocol, and this issue is not even mentioned in this protocol.' Meanwhile, Gholamali Jafarzadeh Imanabadi, a representative from Rasht, also quoted Zarif on Tuesday as saying that Iran will not accept the installation of online cameras in its nuclear facilities due to the past experience of 'identifying and assassinating' its nuclear scientists. According to IRNA, he also quoted the Foreign Minister as saying that 'Iran will not accept anything beyond the mechanisms of international inspections.' According to the agreement between Iran and the 5+1 group 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. Based on 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 ratified by the Islamic Consultative Assembly, inspectors from the IAEA will be allowed to inspect Iran's nuclear facilities whenever they deem necessary. On Tuesday, Karimi Qoddusi also stated, 'Mr. Zarif mentioned in this session that the Security Council will first issue a resolution to lift its six previous resolutions regarding sanctions against Iran, and as soon as this is done, Iran will begin to fulfill its commitments in dismantling centrifuges, and in return, the Western side will lift the sanctions.' He also quoted the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization as saying that 'after the agreement begins, gas injection into IR-8 centrifuges will take place.' According to the agreement between Iran and the 5+1 countries in Lausanne, Iran will continue the stages of starting and completing the research and development process of IR-4 to IR-8 centrifuges over a ten-year period of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. According to this agreement, the European Union will end economic and financial sanctions related to Iran's nuclear program, and the United States will suspend the implementation of secondary financial and economic sanctions related to nuclear issues, simultaneously with the implementation of Iran's major nuclear commitments, in a manner that will be verified by the IAEA. However, John Kerry, the U.S. Secretary of State, has emphasized that if Tehran does not act according to the agreement, sanctions will be reimposed. Meanwhile, according to Mohammad Javad Zarif, the U.S. is obligated to lift sanctions against Iran following the Security Council resolution. Karimi Qoddusi further stated that in the coming days, the 'fact sheet [details of the agreement]' regarding the Lausanne agreement will be published by the Foreign Ministry. In recent days, several critics of the agreement reached in the Lausanne negotiations have stated that the texts announced by Iran and the U.S. regarding this agreement are different and have called for the Foreign Ministry of Iran to provide the text of this agreement. Karimi Qoddusi deemed Zarif's explanations in the closed session of Parliament as 'acceptable' but stated that these explanations must certainly be included in the framework of the 'fact sheet of Iran' that will be published in the coming days. The statements made by Karimi Qoddusi on Tuesday come in the wake of a 'verbal altercation' that occurred during the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission meeting regarding the Lausanne agreement, which involved claims made by Karimi Qoddusi about a warning from the Supreme Leader to the Iranian nuclear negotiating team and Zarif's dismissal of these statements as 'lies.' Additionally, reports indicate that some conservative representatives also protested Zarif's remarks during the closed session on Tuesday, but according to Mohammad Sadat Abrahimi, a representative from Shushtar, these protests were met with 'condemnation from the majority of the Parliament.' In this context, Gholamali Jafarzadeh stated that 'hardliners in Parliament created tension, but... the majority of representatives also expressed their support for the negotiations and the nuclear negotiating team.' On Tuesday, a group called 'Students and Clerics' protested against the Lausanne agreement outside the Islamic Consultative Assembly. The holding of this protest comes after Mohammad Reza Yousefi, the political director of the Tehran Governorate, announced that no permit had been requested for this action, making the protest illegal. In related news, the Israeli Prime Minister's office prepared a list of 'deficiencies' in the text of the nuclear agreement with Iran. Ali Larijani stated that the Lausanne statement is a good sign regarding the resolution of the nuclear issue. The White House stated that lifting sanctions on Iran from the very first day of the agreement is not wise. Obama stated that Iran's recognition of Israel is not part of the nuclear agreement.