Iran’s parliament set to vote on retaliatory bill against US: MP

The Iranian parliament (Majlis) is set to vote on a motion which incorporates a host of retaliatory measures in the face of US “acts of terror” and “adventurism” in the region, a top lawmaker says.

The bill, which was passed by the Majlis’ Committee on National Security and Foreign Policy on Wednesday, will be put on the parliament’s agenda next Sunday, said Hossein Naqavi Hosseini, the committee’s spokesman, in a Thursday interview with the IRIB.

It “takes into consideration the aspects of US hostile measures in the region and their behavior in different areas, [including] acts of terrorism and human rights violations, will be put under close monitoring,” he added.

The bill allocates some $609 million to several state bodies, including the Foreign Ministry, Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs, the Judiciary, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) and its Quds Force, to monitor and probe US actions in the region, the lawmaker said.

Iranian lawmakers had passed the single-urgency motion with 93 percent of the votes, referring it to the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee for further consultation with different state organizations and legislative bodies, Naqavi Hosseini said.

The motion comes in response to the US violations of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on Iran’s nuclear energy program and Washington’s new sanctions against Tehran’s missile activities, the latest round of which was adopted last month.

Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China – plus Germany reached the JCPOA on July 14, 2015 and began implementing it in January 2016.

The UN Security Council later unanimously endorsed a resolution that effectively turned the JCPOA into international law.

Under the agreement, limits were put on Iran’s nuclear activities in exchange for, among other things, the removal of all nuclear-related bans against the Islamic Republic.

However, the US Senate and Treasury Department have imposed new sanctions against the Islamic Republic and several Iranian companies and individuals in recent months over its national missile program, which is not in breach of the JCPOA.