Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Ali Akbar Salehi submitted the nuclear deal to the Majlis for review and briefed the lawmakers on some of its terms on Tuesday.
The historic agreement, which was the outcome of about 20 months of negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 (the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany), would settle a 12-year dispute over Tehran's nuclear program.
The US administration also submitted the accord -- officially named the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action -- to Congress on Sunday. Under a congressional bill, US legislators have 60 days, starting from Monday, to review the deal and vote to approve or reject it.
In the event of Congress backing a resolution of disapproval, the measure could face President Barack Obama's veto and US lawmakers would need two-thirds majorities of both the Senate and the House to override it.
The United Nations Security Council endorsed the pact on Monday, adopting a resolution, as part of the agreement, which would terminate the provisions of all the previous resolutions issued against Iran over its nuclear program.
Zarif said, "I tell you as I told the Leader, we did our best to observe most of the red lines, if not all," including safeguarding national dignity, recognition of Iran's nuclear program and its right to uranium enrichment and continued operation of the Arak heavy water reactor.
Regarding the constraints Tehran has accepted under the agreement in exchange for sanctions relief, he said, "Some reasonable restrictions and monitoring have been agreed under the international accord."
"(However,) the restrictions last for specified durations and have an expiry date."
Any access to facilities for monitoring, under the accord, will be granted only if it is identified as not involving the risk of disclosing national secrets, IRNA quoted the top negotiator as saying.
Among the gains Iran made in negotiations is that financial and economic nuclear-related sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council, the European Union and the United States will be removed at once, he said, adding, “These sanctions will be lifted at once on the implementation day, while others will be removed … over the course of a few years.”
He said with the US sanctions ceased, “tens of billions of dollars” of frozen assets and oil revenues will be repatriated to the country.
As for the feasibility of the reinstatement of sanctions, the top diplomat said the restoration mechanism envisaged in the plan of action is “time-consuming” and politically “costly” for the other party to the deal, as it would undermine the credibility of the UN resolution.
Influx of Businesses
A large influx of international businesses into the Iranian market as a result of the removal of sanctions would pose the greatest obstacle to the adoption of such measure, Zarif added.
Salehi also addressed the legislators, describing the agreement as a great “achievement” which marks a turning point in international relations.
“I am here to declare that I accept responsibility in terms of religious, ethical and rational considerations, for the technical aspects of the deal.”
“I testify this is a tremendous achievement and history will show this. (The Vienna agreement) has triggered a wholesale change in the paradigm of the world’s political interactions.”
Salehi replied to questions posed by Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani.
Lawmakers also voted to pass a motion to establish a special commission tasked with examining the JCPOA.
Out of the 184 members of parliament present, 144 voted in favor of the measure, 33 were against and the remaining abstained.
