Roundup: Iran's high legislative body endorses Majlis bill on nuke rights

Iran's Guardian Council of Constitution, the high legislative body of the country, endorsed on Wednesday the recent bill of the Iranian Majlis (parliament) obliging the government to safeguard rights in a potential nuclear deal with the world powers.

In an urgent meeting on Wednesday, "the Guardian Council approved the bill as it did not contradict the constitution," Nejatallah Ebrahimian, the spokesman for the council, told state IRIB TV.

The Iranian government's spokesman Mohammad-Bagher Nobakht said Tuesday that the bill passed by the Majlis contradicts the constitution.

Based on article no. 176 of the constitution, nuclear talks are not within the responsibility or authority of the administration or Majlis, Nobakht said.

On Tuesday, Majlis passed a bill obliging Rouhani's negotiating team to safeguard the country's nuclear rights and achievements.

Any nuclear agreement should include complete and immediate removal of all sanctions against the country on the day Iran starts fulfilling its obligations, the bill read.

It also said that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will only be allowed to carry out conventional inspections into Iran's nuclear sites, and it will be given no access to Iran's "military, security and sensitive non-nuclear sites, documents and scientists" under the additional protocol of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Besides, any restrictions on the country's research and development of nuclear technology for peaceful purposes should not be accepted by Iranian negotiators, the bill said.

According to Press TV, the bill requires the Iranian foreign ministry, which is tasked with the negotiations, to submit regular reports to the parliament on the process of implementing a possible nuclear agreement with the world powers every six months.

In the sympathetic remarks with the move of the lawmakers, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Monday that the financial and economic sanctions of the United Nations and the western countries against Iran should be lifted immediately after a nuclear agreement is possibly signed.

The Iranian leader reiterated that Iran would not allow "unconventional inspections," "excessive pressures" or inspections into its military sites to be included in an accord.

Under a nuclear deal, Iran will not accept long-term limitations of 10 years on its nuclear program, which the other party is clear about it, he added.

Research and development program in Iran's nuclear technology should continue during the implementation of the deal, he maintained.

On Wednesday, Iranian foreign ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said the country's negotiators are committed to observe the red lines drawn by Iran's supreme leader for a nuclear deal.

The guidelines of the supreme leader is the roadmap for Iran's foreign policy, including for the nuclear talks, Afkham stressed.

Iran and the P5+1 group countries, namely the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia plus Germany, agreed on a framework of understanding in early April and set June 30 as a deadline for reaching a final deal, after missing two previous deadlines in June and last November.

The Iranian spokeswoman also said that nuclear talks between Iran and world powers to tackle the obstacles in the way of reaching a final deal is at its difficult stage. "The more the talks continue, the more brackets are added and the more differences arise," Afkham told reporters in her weekly press briefing.

"Presently, we are at a difficult stage of the talks as it was predictable," she said, adding the negotiators have to sit longer hours at the negotiating table as the self-imposed deadline of June 30 nears. Endit