TEHRAN - A member of the National Security Committee of the Iranian Parliament (Majlis) says the approach of the Raisi administration is to promote economic capacity at home and to negotiate at the international stage, and this will neutralize the sanctions.

In an interview with the Mehr news agency published on Monday, Ebrahim Rezaei reacted to the remarks by some reformists that resolving people's problems requires negotiations with the West.

“The pro-Western approach in linking sanctions and economic problems has two aspects, part of which is the result their discourse” that seek development at home outside borders “and partly the result of their tactics. Of course, these two categories are not far apart and may be the product of each other,” Rezaei remarked.

The MP noted that understanding of some in the “pro-Western” camp for economic progress is to “connect the category of economy to the West”, and since they are aware that a resolution of problems without the West will weaken their status, they seek a pro-West policy in order to “keep their current alive”.

“Pro-West reformists seek to hide their weaknesses”

The member of the parliamentary committee stated: "Accordingly, they believe that all problems should be tied to the West so that their managerial flaws, weaknesses and corruptions are not seen."

Elsewhere in his remarks, Rezaei referred to the nuclear talks with Western countries and said: “In the previous administration, in the negotiations with the International Atomic Energy Agency, there was an approach” to appease them “so that they would not be upset and enter a phase of confrontation with us."

On a question whether the use of the mechanisms by the Rouhani administration and reformists for negotiations would work in the new administration, he responded, Rezaei said: "The revolutionary current sees interaction and negotiation as a catalyst for progress, not development as a whole. In the sense that they believe that despite sanctions, relying on domestic resources, growth and development can be achieved.”

“IAEA's approach is purely political”

The MP also lambasted the IAEA's approach vis-à-vis Iran, saying: "The fact is that the approach of the nuclear watchdog is not a technical approach but is purely political, and therefore uncalculated interaction with them will make the other side bolder and so this approach should be avoided."

The parliamentarian said the ratification by the parliament in December 2020 was intended to the force the Western side that it must act in accordance to the terms of the 2015 nuclear agreement, officially called the JCPOA.

The legislation obliged the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) to accelerate the nuclear program, such as increasing the level of enrichment, installing new advanced centrifuges, suspend sanctions beyond the Safeguards agreements, etc. 

Speaker of the Parliament Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf communicated the law, officially called "The Strategic Action Plan for Lifting the Sanctions and Protecting the Rights of the Iranian People", to the previous administration for implementation on December 2, 2020.
 
"The strategic action plan for lifting the sanctions and protecting the rights of the Iranian people was approved by the parliament with the aim of forcing the other side to move within the framework, and every administration is obliged to comply with it," Rezaei stated. 

The IAEA has been tasked to monitor Iran’s nuclear program based on the 2015 nuclear deal according to which Iran agreed to put limits on its nuclear activities in exchange for termination of economic and financial sanctions.

However, Iran gradually removed caps on its nuclear activities as the U.S. quit the nuclear deal in May 2018 and imposed the harshest sanctions in history against Iran. Iran decided to gradually remove bans one year after the U.S. left the agreement and the European parties to the agreement did nothing to compensate Iran for the sanctions.

"The new administration's approach with regard to the nuclear talks is definitely based on the codified strategies of the system, ie the framework set by the Supreme Leader of and the strategic action plan to lift sanctions and protect the rights of the Iranian people, and it differs in tactics and interaction with the previous administration,” said Rezaei who represents Dashtestan in the parliament.

"Emphasis on the simultaneous capacity building at home and negotiations in the international arena is the principle that is being pursued in the Raisi administration, which will certainly lead to the neutralization of sanctions if it does not lead to the lifting of sanctions," he pointed out.