Iran MPs deny signing bill to suspend nuclear talks

A bill demanding that Iran suspend nuclear talks with the United States until US officials cease making military threats against Iran was presented to the Iranian parliament May 12. The bill has faced a backlash, however, with some members of parliament claiming that they were misled about the nature and content of the bill.

Javad Karimi-Ghodousi, a member of parliament from Mashhad and member of the hard-line Endurance Front, presented the bill to parliament’s board of directors. The bill, which received 80 signatures, was presented as a “triple-emergency bill,” requiring a representative from the Guardian Council to be present to give a response within 24 hours. Triple-emergency bills are typically presented when the country is actively under military attack. Mehdi Koochakzadeh, Hamid Rasaei, Esmail Kowsari and Morteza Agha-Tehrani, who signed the bill, have been some of the most vocal critics in parliament against the nuclear talks and the Iranian negotiation team.

One of the key parts of the bill states, “The administration, foreign policy officials and members of the negotiating team must suspend negotiations with the Americans on the nuclear issue until the US officials officially and openly put aside threats against the Iranian nation.” The bill also read that Iran must continue the nuclear talks with the other members of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany (P5+1) “without the presence of the Americans.” This point is rather odd given that some of the most intensive and fruitful meetings during the nuclear negotiations have been bilateral talks between Iranian and US officials.

Other members of parliament whose names appear on the bill claim, however, that they were misled that the bill would be a triple-emergency bill and others thought they were signing a bill that expressed support for the nuclear negotiation team.