Iran's outgoing President blasts Parliament for undermining efforts to lift sanctions

Iran’s outgoing President Hassan Rouhani on Sunday blasted the Iranian parliament for undermining efforts for 2015 nuclear deal talks that would lift the economic sanctions on the country, sources briefed Moscow’s Sputnik news agency. Earlier this month, the Iranian lawmakers drafted a bill that would limit Iran’s “direct talks” with the United States and the Iranian government would have to first seek permission from the legislature to resume negotiations with the US federal government. Iran's parliament had earlier left the interim nuclear inspection accord in limbo after accusing the government of President Hassan Rouhani of ‘overstepping’ authority. Iran’s Council of Experts attempted to revoke the agreement reached by International Atomic Energy Agency head Rafael Mariano Grossi and Iranian nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi. 

“If we want to take a step [toward lifting sanctions] imposed during the administration of former US President Donald Trump, decisions have to be made by the entire political system,” said the retiring Iranian president Hassan Rouhani.

“The government could not do it unilaterally, and the Iranian parliament’s decision hampered the process of lifting sanctions,” he added at a meeting of Iran's central bank, as reported by Sputnik. 

Iran's parliament sought to 'limit' Rouhani government’s decision-making

Earlier, Parliament speaker Mohamed Baqr Qalibaf had indicated to limit the Rouhani government’s decision making as he said in a tweet that the interim inspection deal between IAEA and Iran "requires parliamentary approval," and as such, "cannot be implemented.” IAEA chief Grossi meanwhile had told journalists in Tehran that the interim deal was a measure that would prevent the ‘total collapse' of the nuclear inspection regime and eventually the 2015 nuclear deal. The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action of 2015 was an accord struck by China, France, Germany, Russia, the UK, the US with Iran that aimed to curb the latter’s nuclear stockpiling until in 2018 ex-US President Donald Trump unilaterally pulled out of the framework. As a result, Tehran abandoned its nuclear commitments, and Washington, in turn, retaliated with economic sanctions on Iran. 

“We confirmed that Iran will continue to implement the comprehensive safeguards agreement without any limitation, as they have been doing so far,” Grossi had told reporters. "My hope is that we have been able to stabilize a situation which was very unstable so that other political consultations can take place and we can avoid a situation in which we were 'flying blind.’"

Iran’s former President Abolhassan Bani Sadr, although, had informed news agencies that Iran's hard-line faction and the parliament have been questioning the legitimacy of the interim deal and the negotiations with foreign powers. This stance he briefly attributed to the elections in June, saying that the hard-liners did not really want to see the US lift economic sanctions on Tehran, or else that would have helped the reformists win the election.