In Iran, the government’s dispute with parliament is escalating over the new atomic law, which contradicts the Vienna nuclear agreement on all points, with which the country should be kept from a nuclear weapons program. President Hassan Rouhani should forward the law already passed by parliament to the authorities within a five-day period.
„That did not happen and the deadline has now expired,“ said Parliament President Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf today, according to local media. In purely legal terms, Ghalibaf could pass the law on for implementation without Rouhani’s consent. But that would be a novelty in Iranian domestic politics. Observers assume that the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will ultimately speak a word of power and make a decision.
Uranium enrichment and withdrawal from the additional protocol
The atomic law was passed by the hardliners and Rouhani opponents in parliament. According to the law, the Iranian Atomic Energy Agency (AEOI) should produce and store 120 kilograms of 20 percent uranium per year. In the longer term, the stock of low-enriched uranium is to be increased and faster centrifuges for uranium enrichment produced.
Politically delicate is Iran’s withdrawal from the additional protocol of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), as provided for in the law. Such a step would restrict or even ban UN inspectors‘ access to Iranian nuclear facilities.
Rouhani is hoping for Biden
President Rouhani thinks the law is politically unwise. He warned the hardliners not to interfere in the country’s nuclear policy. According to Rouhani, the new law is hampering diplomatic efforts to save the nuclear deal.
Under President Donald Trump, the United States withdrew from the agreement. Future US President Joe Biden has already stated several times that he thinks the exit is wrong. In addition, Rouhani hopes for an end to the sanctions imposed by Trump, which have plunged the country into a severe economic crisis since 2018.
