Iranian Lawmakers Give Thumbs Down to Nuclear Deal

By Edward Yeranian
Cairo
31 October 2009

Iran's top lawmakers and its president have expressed disapproval of the United Nations-backed draft nuclear deal with the West, Saturday, offering varying degrees of criticism.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (file photo)

Decision-makers gave thumbs down to the U.N. draft nuclear deal with the West, Saturday, saying that they reject it in its current form. Several key members of parliament have slammed the deal, while President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad expressed displeasure with it, but urged the West to "continue cooperating with Iran."

Alaeddin Boroujerdi, who heads the Iranian parliament's powerful national security and foreign affairs committee, told Iranian TV that his committee does not approve of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)-backed deal, because Tehran has "no guarantee" that it will "get its uranium back."

Iranian lawmaker Kazem Jalali, who also sits on the national security committee, told Iran's Arabic-language al Alam TV that Tehran has no confidence in the West because of years of previous dealings:

He says that Iran has suspicions about whether the West will respect the terms of the deal. He adds that an eventual deal must be totally transparent and offer guarantees for all parties involved. He stresses that the present deal is against the interests of Iran.

Meanwhile, Iranian President Ahmedinejad, speaking to a group of war veterans in the city of Mashhad, expressed hope that the nuclear talks with the West would continue.

He says that the West should continue to talk with Iran over the nuclear issue and that the best way to deal with the Iranian nation is to respect it and deal with it honestly.

Mr. Ahmedinejad also claimed that Israel is "unhappy over the ongoing talks between Iran and the West," warning the Jewish state "not to make mischief, along with other bullying powers [to derail] the talks."

Iran's powerful parliament speaker Ali Larijani attacked the United States Friday, accusing it of involvement in a recent bloody attack in Sistan-Baluchistan, which killed a number of top Revolutionary Guard commanders.

Analysts say that Larijani's criticism of the U.S. could be a veiled swipe at Mr. Ahmedinejad for continuing nuclear talks with the West. Friction between the Iranian president and some of his erstwhile allies has manifested itself in discord over the recent nuclear negotiations.