Tehran set to implement Nuclear Deal after top Iranian council approval

Middle East, News October 15, 2015 , by IRIA No Comments

A senior council of Iranian clerics and lawyers on Wednesday approved implementing a landmark nuclear deal with world powers. The approval means the bill is now set to become law as Iran’s Parliament already approved it on Tuesday.

Iran’s powerful Guardian Council said they did not find the bill “to be against religious law and the constitution,” Fars news agency reports.

Under the deal, Iran will curb its nuclear activities in return for the lifting of Western sanctions. The deal was struck in July between Iran and the P5+1 – the US, UK, France, China and Russia plus Germany – after 20 months of negotiations.

The Guardian Council’s vote, marks a major victory for the administration of moderate President Hassan Rouhani, which has campaigned on easing tensions with the West.

Nejatollah Ebrahimian, the council’s spokesman, said the body approved the parliamentary bill implementing the deal “by an absolute majority of the votes.” He did not offer a voting breakdown. The council meets behind closed doors.

Some council “members raised objections to the bill and found it contrary to the constitution. There were debates,” state television quoted Ebrahimian as saying. “At the end, a majority of the council members voted that the parliamentary legislation is not against the constitution and Shariah law.”

Hard-liners had hoped to stall the deal in order to weaken Rouhani’s administration ahead of February’s parliamentary elections. But many in Iran applauded the final nuclear deal, struck July 14 in Vienna, as it lifts crippling economic sanctions in exchange for limits on the nuclear program.

Earlier on Tuesday, Iran’s parliament voted to support implementing the nuclear agreement. Some hard-line lawmakers shouted, scuffled and wept during a final parliamentary hearing on the bill, but 161 lawmakers voted for it while 59 voted against it and 13 abstained. Another 17 did not vote at all, while 40 lawmakers did not attend the session.