Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday approved the Iranian government’s nuclear deal with world powers but said Tehran should not give up core elements of its atomic programme until allegations of past military dimensions had been settled.
In a letter to President Hassan Rouhani, whose pragmatist approach opened the door to nuclear diplomacy with the West, Khamenei ordered the July 14th agreement to be implemented, subject to certain security conditions the Iranian parliament stipulated in a law passed last week.
Under the Vienna agreement, Iran is to curb sensitive parts of its nuclear programme to help ensure it cannot be diverted into developing bombs, in exchange for a removal of sanctions that have isolated the Islamic Republic and hurt its economy.
Khamenei’s green light was the last procedural hurdle to carrying out a deal that ended a decade-long stand-off which raised fears of a wider Middle East war.
But he has ruled out any detente with the West beyond the nuclear deal, and he said Iran would stop implementing it if the six powers – the United States, Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia – imposed any new sanctions.
“Any comments suggesting the sanctions structure will remain in place or [new] sanctions will be imposed, at any level and under any pretext, would be [considered by Iran] a violation of the deal,” Khamenei said in the letter published on his website.
He said implementation of the deal should be “tightly controlled and monitored” because of some “ambiguities” in it.
“Lack of tight control could bring significant damage for the present and the future of the country,” he said, while praising the efforts of Rouhani’s negotiating team.