TEHRAN, 17 November 2004 — Iran’s powerful hard-liners yesterday lined up to condemn an agreement by the clerical leadership to suspend sensitive nuclear activities in line with international demands and as part of a deal with Britain, France and Germany.
At a noisy session in the hard-line-controlled Parliament, one deputy likened the deal to the 1993 Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestinians, considered by the Islamic republic as an act of “treason”.
“We agreed to make 13 precise commitments while the Europeans only made four vague ones,” said conservative MP Ahmad Tavakoli, referring to the text of a deal agreed upon late Sunday between Iranian and European diplomats.
The UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), confirmed Monday that Iran has pledged to suspend all uranium enrichment-related activities as of Nov. 22. The suspension would come in time for an IAEA meeting in Vienna on Nov. 25 that will decide whether to take Iran to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions.
The deal brokered by the so-called EU-3 offered Iran trade, security and technological incentives in return for its cooperation.
“The Europeans said they would help us join the WTO, but it is the Americans who oppose our joining and them who decide,” Tavakoli said, adding that joining the World Trade Organization would in any case only bring “misery and poverty” to Iran.
