Iran’s parliament seeks to force government to observe red lines in nuclear talks

Chairman of parliamentary nuclear committee to West, P5+1: "Iran’s parliament will not remain silent and will not allow the country’s interests to be at stake."

By ARIEL BEN SOLOMON
Iranian workers stand in front of the Bushehr nuclear power plant. (photo credit: REUTERS)
Iranian workers stand in front of the Bushehr nuclear power plant.
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Iran’s parliament is attempting to force the government to observe red lines in ongoing nuclear negotiations with world powers.
“The Western communities and the Group 5+1 should know that Iran’s parliament will not remain silent and will not allow the country’s interests to be at stake,” Ebrahim Karkhanei, chairman of the parliament’s nuclear committee, told the country’s Tasnim News Agency on Sunday.
Karkhanei said efforts are under way to introduce a motion that would require the Iranian negotiating team to abide by the country’s red lines.
Iran’s uranium enrichment program, the operation of the Fordow nuclear facility, the Arak heavy-water reactor, and nuclear inspections that meet Iran’s approval, are some such red lines, said Karkhanei.
US Secretary of State John Kerry is to meet with Iran’s foreign minister and the European Union foreign policy chief in Oman on November 9-10 to discuss the Iranian nuclear issue ahead of a looming deadline for a final agreement, the State Department said on Friday.
Kerry’s talks in Muscat, Oman, with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and the EU’s Catherine Ashton are due to take place two weeks before a November 24 deadline for Tehran and six major powers to reach a long-term agreement on Iran’s nuclear program.
The high-level gathering is one of series of meetings in the final weeks before the deadline.
Iran’s parliament speaker, Ali Larijani, said on Sunday that a nuclear deal “is possible” if world powers are rational, as the positions of both sides “have come closer,” reported Tasnim.
Reuters contributed to this report.