Iranian Lawmakers Give Thumbs Down to Nuclear Deal

By Edward Yeranian

Cairo
31 October 2009

Iran's top lawmakers and its president have expressed disapproval of
the United Nations-backed draft nuclear deal with the West, Saturday,
offering varying degrees of criticism.

Decision-makers gave
thumbs down to the U.N. draft nuclear deal with the West, Saturday,
saying that they reject it in its current form. Several key members of
parliament have slammed the deal, while President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad
expressed displeasure with it, but urged the West to "continue
cooperating with Iran."

Alaeddin Boroujerdi, who heads the
Iranian parliament's powerful national security and foreign affairs
committee, told Iranian TV that his committee does not approve of the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)-backed deal, because Tehran
has "no guarantee" that it will "get its uranium back."

Iranian
lawmaker Kazem Jalali, who also sits on the national security
committee, told Iran's Arabic-language al Alam TV that Tehran has no
confidence in the West because of years of previous dealings:

He
says that Iran has suspicions about whether the West will respect the
terms of the deal. He adds that an eventual deal must be totally
transparent and offer guarantees for all parties involved. He stresses
that the present deal is against the interests of Iran.

Meanwhile,
Iranian President Ahmedinejad, speaking to a group of war veterans in
the city of Mashhad, expressed hope that the nuclear talks with the
West would continue.

He says that the West should continue to
talk with Iran over the nuclear issue and that the best way to deal
with the Iranian nation is to respect it and deal with it honestly.

Mr.
Ahmedinejad also claimed that Israel is "unhappy over the ongoing talks
between Iran and the West," warning the Jewish state "not to make
mischief, along with other bullying powers [to derail] the talks."

Iran's
powerful parliament speaker Ali Larijani attacked the United States
Friday, accusing it of involvement in a recent bloody attack in
Sistan-Baluchistan, which killed a number of top Revolutionary Guard
commanders.

Analysts say that Larijani's criticism of the U.S.
could be a veiled swipe at Mr. Ahmedinejad for continuing nuclear talks
with the West. Friction between the Iranian president and some of his
erstwhile allies has manifested itself in discord over the recent
nuclear negotiations.