Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Iran to block inspections if sanctions applied

The Jerusalem Post:
Iranian parliament on Tuesday took the first step toward requiring the government to block international inspection of Iran's nuclear facilities if the United Nations Security Council imposes sanctions, a legislator said.

Parliament's most powerful committee approved the outline of a bill under which "the Iranian government is obliged to suspend all inspections by the IAEA inspectors to its nuclear facilities if the UN Security Council imposes restrictions on the country," Kazem Jalali, a legislator and spokesman of the Foreign Policy and National Security Committee of the said.

If parliament approves the bill, it returns to the committee for a debate on its details. It also must be ratified by the Guardian Council, a hard-line constitutional watchdog before it takes effect and the government can prevent the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN nuclear watchdog, from inspecting Iranian facilities.