Iran’s new agreement with the UN nuclear watchdog contains no clause preventing the reimposition of UN sanctions on Tehran under the snapback mechanism, an ultraconservative lawmaker said Sunday, citing the text of the deal he said he had reviewed.
“I read the text of the agreement with the Agency. The text does not state that ‘implementation of this agreement is conditional on no hostile action against Iran, including snapback,’ whereas Araghchi said that in an interview," Hamid Rasaee said.
The hardline cleric said lawmakers attending a Saturday briefing with Araghchi believed this key condition was included in the text, but it was not.
"So the agreement does not prevent the implementation of the snapback mechanism. It was the same in the JCPOA, where the text did not match the claims,” Rasaee wrote on X.
Iranian lawmakers, including the cleric, convened an emergency meeting with Araghchi on Saturday to review the government’s new cooperation agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), signed in Cairo last week.
Neither Araghchi nor Grossi provided any details after signing the agreement.
Rasaee said parliament had not been given access to the text, criticizing Araghchi for keeping it confidential.
"Mr. Araghchi has said that it was agreed with the agency that the text of the agreement must be kept confidential and publishing it would be against diplomatic norms," he said in a video message posted on X Sunday.
According to Rasaee, only parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and the head of the national security and foreign policy committee had received copies of the agreement on Saturday night.
Alleged details
Rasaee said the text of the deal that he reviewed explicitly condemns attacks on Iran's nuclear facilities and also establishes that future inspections will be conducted under a new procedure.
The agreement specifies that the UN nuclear watchdog must carry out its inspections in line with the law passed by Iran’s parliament, he said.
Under the terms, he claimed, inspections of sites that have not been targeted in attacks will only be made upon specific requests.
"Such requests will be reviewed by Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, which will decide whether to grant authorization."
For facilities that have been attacked, the arrangement sets out a more restrictive process, according to Rasaee. The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran must first perform environmental and related assessments and submit a report.
"That report will be passed to the IAEA only if it is approved by the Supreme National Security Council. Even after that stage, each step of the inspection process requires further approval from the Council. The IAEA will not be permitted to conduct inspections without these clearances."
"The question is: why should the text remain confidential?! If it is a good text, if all our conditions are met in it, why keep it secret?" he said.
Shortly after Rasaee's criticism, Iran's Supreme National Security Council confirmed it had approved the cooperation protocol, with its secretariat saying the agreement reached between Araghchi and IAEA chief Rafael Grossi had been approved by the council.
The body led by Ali Larijani also said that Tehran will submit reports to the Agency only after the Council’s review.
