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Iranian Parliament passes law to curtail U.N. inspections

Atul Aneja

Vote comes days ahead of IAEA meet on Teheran's nuclear programme

FUELLING A CONTROVERSY: Iranian students stage a demonstration to support the country's nuclear programme, in front of the Natanz Uranium Enrichment Facility, 322 km south of Teheran recently. — PHOTO: AP

DUBAI: In a show of defiance, the Iranian Parliament has backed a move to begin uranium enrichment and end surprise inspections by the United Nations if Teheran's case was referred to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions.

The vote where 183 out of 197 Iranian law makers backed the proposal four days ahead of a crucial meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) where Iran's case would be discussed.

The resolution turns earlier diplomatic statements of defiance by Iranian officials into legislation that the Government would necessarily have to follow.

Pressure campaign

The Council of Guardians — a powerful body that can veto a parliamentary decision, will now review the Parliament's position.

Observers, however, say that it is likely that the Council will formalise its support for the Parliament's vote on Tuesday, two days ahead of the IAEA meeting in Vienna.

The United States has been leading a campaign to pressurise Iran, saying that there were strong suspicions that Teheran was developing nuclear weapons.

Iran has denied the charge, and has stressed that it was harnessing atomic power to augment its energy resources.

Two recent developments have also been cited to arm twist Iran. First, Iran's announcement that it had started the preliminary enrichment of a second batch of uranium at its facility in Isfahan has gone against it. Second, its declaration to the IAEA that it had received unsolicited information from the A.Q. Khan nuclear smuggling network has also had a negative impact. There has been a spate of media reports suggesting that the information that was received related to the manufacture of the explosive core of a nuclear bomb, thereby indicating Iran's possible interest in nuclear weapons.

Analysts point out that Iran is being pressurised mainly to endorse a Russian proposal, which would allow it to carry out the main part of enrichment on Russian soil. The U.S. along with Germany, France and Britain has backed the proposal, and the U.S. has exhorted Iran to accept the compromise deal.

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