Seyed Abbas Araghchi who was speaking on Monday night to state broadcasting IRIB Channel Two Special News Program responded to a few questions about the JCPOA, inter alia, to a highly controversial question of Parliament approval of the JCPOA; “first we should agree on this point that what advantages the approval by Parliament could have for the whole system; the JCPOA has a voluntary nature; here a question pertaining to Article 77 of the constitution arises: Whether JCPOA falls to a category of international treaties which the Article 77 mandates approval by the Parliament,” Mr. Araghchi said, believing that many including himself would not advocate JCPOA approval by the Parliament on the grounds that any issue falling in the jurisdiction of the Supreme National Security Council automatically located outside the scope of the Parliament.
Deputy-FM for Legal and International Affairs added that the nuclear issue had been open since 12 years ago in the SNSC; “the view that sees JCPOA not as a treaty, but a voluntary mutual commitment, has gained momentum currently to which the Foreign Ministry belongs, which strongly believes that from a national interest perspective, it is not in the interests of the country that Parliament approves through debate the JCPOA,” Araghchi argued.
“The dominant view in the US Congress is of the ultra-orthodox Republicans who strongly oppose the JCPOA and would probably not vote for it accordingly. The contention is that without a Congress denial of the approval, which rules out working of a voluntary commitment to law, approval into law in Iranian Parliament would seem improper; from a national interest perspective, it is not expedient for the Parliament to debate and approve (or disapprove) the JCPOA,” Araghchi told the TV program, arguing that there should be some consistency between parliamentary conduct between the US and Iran.
“From purely legal perspective, both sides are considered; in the case of approval by the Parliament, the entirety of the JCPOA should be approved by the Parliament or SNSC; no single part of the JCPOA could be adopted as favorable in debates,” he asserted. “If they say parts of the JCPOA are rejected, then it will definitely mean that the whole nuclear agreement is rejected by the same principle,” Araghchi added.
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