Middle East Desk
Report
TEHRAN: A bill requiring Iran’s government to step up uranium enrichment closer to the level needed for a nuclear weapon, and ignore other restraints on its nuclear programme agreed with major powers, cleared its first hurdle in parliament on Tuesday.
But the govt promptly said the move, proposed in response to the assassination of a top nuclear scientist on Friday, could not change Iran’s nuclear policy, which was the province of the Supreme National Security Council. “Death to America! Death to Israel!” some lawmakers chanted after the hardline-dominated parliament cleared the draft at its first reading in a session broadcast live on state radio.
Parliament has often demanded a hardening of Iran’s position on the nuclear issue in recent years, without much success. In this case, the govt must decide whether a sharp response to Friday’s killing of nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh might jeopardise the prospect of an improvement in ties with the US once Joe Biden takes over from Trump as president.
“The government believes that, under the constitution, the nuclear accord and the nuclear programme are under the jurisdiction of the Supreme National Security Council,” govt spokesman Ali Rabiei told reporters.
