The US decision to tighten restrictions on Iran's nuclear activities is meant to prompt the country to take "drastic" measures, but officials should stay vigilant and increase their bargaining power only through legal means, a senior lawmaker said.
"The new nuclear sanctions are aimed at compelling Iran to end its membership in the International Atomic Energy Agency and leave the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty so that it could be brought back under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, but we should not take any drastic measure," Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh told ISNA in a recent interview.
Chapter VII authorizes UN-mandated external action against a country.
The US administration is extending waivers that allow countries signed up to the Iran nuclear deal to participate in civil nuclear projects with Tehran, but it is tightening the terms in an effort to increase pressure on the Iranian government.
The waivers allow the remaining parties to the 2015 deal to conduct research and do civil nuclear work at three sites in Iran without fear of facing sanctions, CNN reported, citing a fact sheet released by the State Department on Friday.
However, the waivers will be reduced from 180 days to 90, and State Department Spokesman Morgan Ortagus said in a statement that "assistance to expand Iran's Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant beyond the existing reactor unit could be sanctionable".
Bushehr is one of the three facilities exempted from sanctions along with Arak and Fordow.
According to Ortagus, the US will revoke two waivers that allowed Iran to ship its excess heavy water for storage and swap its enriched uranium for natural uranium.
Tehran says its nuclear program has no military dimensions.
International Mechanisms
Falahatpisheh, chairman of Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, believes Iran should not take any measure that could play into the hands of American hardliners.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran should not withdraw from any international treaty because it would only give the US a pretext," he said, adding that Tehran should use "international mechanisms" to increase its bargaining power.
He said one of the possible options is to hold negotiations with IAEA and the remaining signatories of the nuclear deal about enriching fuel to 20% and higher.
"We have had this experience before and this approach helped mobilize the world to engage in talks with Iran, which resulted in the JCPOA," Falahatpisheh said, using the abbreviation for the nuclear deal's full name, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
Iran's accord with world powers caps the level to which it is able to enrich uranium to 3.67% purity, well below the 20% it was reaching before the deal.
Chance to Reciprocate
Rahman Qahremanpour, an expert on international affairs, said the new nuclear sanctions provide a "good opportunity" for Iran to take some "reciprocal" measures within the framework of the nuclear agreement.
"I think now is a good opportunity to respond to US measures and the silence and inaction by the three European countries [Britain, France and Germany], as well as Russia and China, based on the principal of reciprocal treatment … and the JCPOA in order to send a serious message to the parties involved," he told ISNA.
In a joint statement with its German and French counterparts and the European Union, Britain's Foreign Office criticized recent US decisions to restrict oil trade with Iran and limit the extension of nuclear waivers agreed under the 2015 deal, Reuters reported.
However, Iranian authorities say Europe's efforts to save the accord and compensate for the US exit have fallen short of their commitments.
