Iran’s Guardian Council approves bill on protection of Iranian nuclear achievements

Iran’s Guardian Council has approved a bill that stipulates all sanctions imposed on Tehran over its nuclear program must be lifted as soon as a nuclear deal with P5+1 comes into effect.

The spokesman of the Guardian Council said Wednesday that the bill, which gained the yes vote of the Iranian lawmakers a day earlier, was “extraordinarily” discussed and gained the required approval from the supervisory body.

Nejatollah Ebrahimian told the Iranian national TV that the bill, with a majority of votes, was not identified as contrary to the Constitution.

During an open session of the Iranian Parliament on Tuesday, 214 of 244 lawmakers voted in favor of the single-article bill, which imposes some restrictions on how the representatives of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) could inspect Iran’s nuclear sites after a deal is reached between Tehran and P5+1 on the Iranian nuclear program.

The bill also demands that all sanctions imposed on Iran over its nuclear program be lifted as soon as one such deal comes into effect.

The Iranian administration, which currently represents Iran in the nuclear negotiations, should not accept any restrictions on the country’s research and development of nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, the bill stipulates.

According to the bill, any final nuclear agreement with the six world powers will be valid only if the stipulations in the bill are complied with.

Iran’s parliament had passed the general outlines of the bill on Sunday.

Representatives of Iran and P5+1 – the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia plus Germany – have been negotiating to finalize the text of a deal over the Islamic Republic’s civilian nuclear program.

Under the Iranian Constitution, the Guardian Council, a 12-member body consisting of six legal experts and six Islamic jurists, is tasked with vetting legislative and presidential candidates, supervising elections and overseeing the bills passed in parliament for conformity with Islamic principles.