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 Many lawmakers strongly opposed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of
Action (JCPOA) that President Hassan Rouhani's government reached
with world powers on July 14, and Tuesday's vote removes an obstacle
to putting the agreement into practice.
"Members of parliament made a well-considered decision today showing
they have a good understanding of the country's situation,"
government spokesman Mohammad Baqer Nobakht said in a televised news
conference after the vote.
The bill was passed with 161 votes for, 59 against and 13
abstentions, state news agency IRNA said. It had passed a
preliminary vote on Sunday by a smaller margin, and will now be
submitted to a clerical body for final approval and passage into
law.
The bill stipulates that inspectors from the U.N. nuclear watchdog,
the IAEA, need approval from a top Iranian security body before
visiting military sites, leaving the possibility that disagreements
could still arise.
 Western diplomats said last month that IAEA inspectors, who are
tasked with verifying member states are not developing nuclear
weapons, will have access to military sites where Iranian
technicians are taking swipe samples.
The bill also says Iran should resume its nuclear activities, which
it is curbing under the JCPOA, if international sanctions are not
lifted as agreed.
Under the July 14 deal with the United States, Britain, France,
Germany, Russia and China, Tehran accepted strict limitations on its
nuclear program in exchange for relief from the sanctions that have
crippled its economy.
The agreement opened the door to easing decades of mounting
hostility between Iran and the West. Western powers suspect the
program was aimed at developing the means to build an atom bomb, but
Tehran says it seeks only peaceful atomic energy.
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"According to the Supreme Leader's religious decree, no government
in Iran has the right to produce or use nuclear weapons and the
government must actively follow international disarmament policy,"
the parliamentary bill said, referring to Iran's top authority
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The draft law also called on the government to continue developing
its military power, suggesting Tehran will maintain its active role
in Middle Eastern conflicts, where its interests have clashed with
those of Western and Gulf Arab powers.
On Sunday, Iran tested a new precision-guided ballistic missile, the
first such weapon able to reach its regional arch-enemy Israel,
defying a United Nations resolution that bans Iran from developing
missiles that could deliver a nuclear warhead.
(Reporting by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin and Sam Wilkin; Editing by Tom
Heneghan)
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