Special Committee to Review JCPOA

TEHRAN (Dispatches) -- Iran's Foreign Minister Muhammad Javad Zarif on Tuesday defended finalized nuclear talks, telling the parliament on Tuesday that most if not all of the country's conditions had been respected.

Date: 21 July 2015 - 21:29

News ID: ۱۶۲۹۰

"We don’t say the deal is totally in favor of Iran. Any negotiation is a give and take. We have definitely shown some flexibility," he said.
"I tell you as I told the Supreme Leader, we did our best to preserve most of the red lines, if not all,” Zarif said, referring to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, who has the last word on all high matters of state.
The talks must still be approved by Iran's National Security Council and ultimately by Ayatollah Khamenei.
The Leader said on Saturday he would not let the deal be "abused" or endanger "Iran's security and defense capabilities".
Ayatollah Khamenei also said the talks would not change Iran's anti-Western foreign policy.
Zarif told lawmakers the UN resolution restricted development of missiles designed to carry nuclear warheads, saying this would not affect the country’s missile program as Iran does not have a nuclear missile program.
Top commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, Muhammad Ali Jafari, said on Monday, "Some parts of the (resolution) draft have clearly crossed the commander Islamic Republic's red lines, especially toward Iran's military capabilities."
Gen. Muhammad Reza Naqdi said the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) treats the Islamic Republic unfairly and will only increase anti-American sentiment in the country.
A day after the United Nations Security Council adopted the plan, Naqdi said  Washington was using the accord as pretext for a future U.S. military strike against Iran.
"Any Iranian who reads the Vienna documents will hate the U.S. 100 times more than before,” he said, according to the semi-official Fars News Agency.
"The U.S. needs the agreement merely to legalize the sanctions and continue pressure against Iran,” he added.
The remarks by Naqdi, a commander of the volunteer Basij forces, came one day after the UN Security Council unanimously voted to endorse the deal paving the way to lift sanctions in exchange for curbs on nuclear enrichment.
Naqdi denounced the language used in Resolution 2231 as inflammatory and hostile toward Iran.
"All paragraphs of the resolution that the U.S. proposed to the UNSC are full of enmity towards Iran and show the U.S. deep grudge against the Iranian nation,” he said.
The JCPOA was reached last Tuesday in Vienna by the UN council’s five permanent members Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States plus Germany.
Iran says it has built ballistic missiles with a range of 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles), capable of striking Zionist targets.
The JCPOA calls on Iran to slash its enrichment activity by two-thirds and open up its nuclear facilities to inspections, including military sites.
Iran has set up a special committee to review the JCPOA after Zarif presented parliament with a copy of the plan.
Under Iran's constitution, parliament has a right to reject any deal - even one negotiated by the foreign ministry.
Zarif, who headed the Iranian negotiating team during the talks in Vienna, first submitted the text to the house. Hours later, the official IRNA news agency reported the formation of a 15-member special committee of politicians to review the deal.
The committee is apparently a way to provide politicians with an opportunity to discuss various points and air their opinions on it.
Zarif, in a speech in parliament that was broadcast on state radio, hailed the Security Council resolution as "unique" and said he expected it to be "the last resolution about Iran's nuclear issue" - a reference to numerous past UN measures that imposed tough sanctions on Tehran.
It remains unclear whether the committee will formalize a statement at the end of its review, and whether politicians will vote on that - or on the plan in general.
The Security Council also approved a provision that would automatically reinstate the harsh measures if Tehran reneges on its promises given in Vienna.
Zarif, apparently trying to defuse concerns by critics over snapback sanctions, said such a move would exact a "heavy price" on the other side as well.
"If for any reason, Security Council sanctions are re-imposed, Iran will not be obliged to abide by its commitments" under the talks, Zarif said, adding that it is not in the interests of either side to go back to the pre-deal situation.
Under the agreement, Iran's nuclear program will be curbed for a decade in exchange for potentially hundreds of billions of pounds of relief from sanctions. Many key penalties on the Iranian economy, such as those related to the energy and financial sectors, could be lifted by the end of the year.
Zarif said the UN resolution also opens the way for Iran to commercially trade its uranium. Under the deal, Iran has to dismantle two thirds of its already installed centrifuges for enriching uranium and get rid of 98% of its uranium stockpile.