Iran House mulls limiting IAEA cooperation
The latest text of the bill says that the government must "revise its cooperation" with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) after the UN Security Council voted to penalise Iran over its contested nuclear programme.
Parliament had decided to debate the bill as a matter of "urgent priority" but speaker Gholam Hossein Hadad Adel said that there would be no vote today owing to the large number of MPs wishing to speak.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. "Numerous MPs have been registered to speak. We will continue the debate on Wednesday," he said.
During the session, deputies asked for changes to toughen up the bill, such as by explicitly banning UN inspectors from visiting Iran's nuclear sites.
The current wording of the bill gives the government a free hand to "revise" its cooperation with the UN nuclear agency as it sees fit, possibly by limiting inspections.
After weeks of diplomatic wrangling, the UN Security Council on Saturday adopted a resolution, which imposes restrictions on Iran's nuclear industry and ballistic missile programme.
The United States accuses Iran of seeking to develop a nuclear weapon, a charge vehemently denied by the Islamic republic, which says it only wants to provide energy to a growing population.
Meanwhile, Iran yesterday maintained its defiance of UN sanctions over its nuclear programme, declaring it was heading towards enriching uranium on an industrial scale and mulling a reduction of cooperation with the UN atomic watchdog.
The deputy foreign minister said Iran would announce a major step forwards towards industrial-scale enrichment of uranium to coincide with the celebrations for the 28th anniversary of the Islamic revolution in February.
"During this (Iranian) year's revolutionary celebrations, the first phase of nuclear fuel production to meet industrial needs will be launched," First Deputy Foreign Minister Mehdi Mostafavi said in Saudi Arabia, where he is attending the hajj pilgrimage, according to the official IRNA news agency.
His comments were an apparent reference to Iran's plan to install 3,000 uranium-enriching centrifuges by March next year, which would be a major step up from its current declared line-up of two 164-centrifuge cascades.